I.  EDWARDS' 

J.IBllAKV. 

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A  B  C  D  E  F  G  Hi  J  K  L 


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HELPS 


PEOMOTION  OP  REVIVALS. 


By  Kev.  J.  V.  WATSON,  D.  D., 

Ta)ITOR  OP  THE  NORTHWESTERN  CHRISTIAN  ADVOOATB. 


PUBLISHED  BY  CARLTON  &  PORTER, 

200  MULBERRY-STREET. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1856, 


BY  CAIILTON  &  PORTEE, 

in  the  (^^lerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Southern 
District  of  New- York. 


PREFACE. 


As  our  title  implies,  the  subject-matter  of  this 
volume  is  treated  rather  suggestively  than  ex- 
haustively. We  have  aimed  to  set  forth  princi- 
ples, and  left  their  details  and  applications  to 
the  reader.  Indeed,  it  is  too  late  to  teach  Meth- 
odist preachers  how  to  conduct  revivals,  but  not 
too  late  to  help  one  another  by  our  suggestions 
to  bring  about  this  most  blessed  condition  of  the 
Church  in  which  it  can  exist  out  of  heaven. 

Much  of  the  matter  of  this  volume  has  already 
appeared  in  the  columns  of  the  paper  under  the 
author's  control.  But  for  the  flattering  atten- 
tion which  it  has  there  excited,  we  might  never 
have  thought  of  giving  it  its  present  form. 
Numerous  letters  from  highly  respectable 
sources  have  reached  us  at  different  times,  solic- 
iting its  publication  in  a  less  ephemeral  form 
than  that  of  a  newspaper.  Yielding  to  the 
judgment  of  our  friends,  we  hope  the  volume 


4 


PKEFACE. 


will  do  good.  We  the  more  readily  make  a 
book  upon  this  subject  because,  so  far  as  we  are 
aware,  the  catalogue  literature  of  Methodism  is 
unsupplied  with  such  a  work.  Albeit  we  would 
not  forget  to  mention  the  most  excellent  little 
work  of  Eev.  James  Porter,  D.  D.,  which  has 
had  a  steady  sale  for  several  years. 

The  work  has  been  prepared  under  disadvant- 
ages altogether  peculiar,  and  which  none  but 
the  author  can  duly  appreciate.  Should  the 
critic  here  seek  work,  he  would  be  apt  to  find 
enough  to  do.  We  hold  ourself  responsible  not 
for  its  verbal  accuracy,  but  for  its  doctrines 
alone.  If  it  have  merit,  as  we  flatter  ourselves 
it  has,  it  will  make  its  way  in  the  world.  If  it 
have  not,  it  does  not  deserve  to. 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  I.— WHAT  IS  REVIVAL. 

THE  CHURCH  IN  NEED  OF  REVIVALS  —  A  REVIVAL  NOT  A  MIRACLE 

 REVIVALS  THE  RESULT  OF  THE  USE  OF  APPROPRfATE  MEANS 

 THE     PLACE     WHERE     REVIVALS     MUST     BEGIN  PRIVATE 

PRAYI.R    AND     PERSONAL    EFFORT  THE     WORKING     OF  TllK 

SOCIAL  PIUNCIPLE  PAGE  11 


Chapter  II.— HINDERANCES  TO  REVIVALS. 

WANT   OF  FAITH  A   REVIVAL    FAITH    DEFINED  THE  GOSPEL*S 

CROWNING  GIFT  —  THE  MORAL  MIGHT  OF  THE  OLD  REFORMERS 

—  THE    OFFICIAL    CHRISTIAN  THE  DIPLOMATIC  CHRISTIAN  — 

THE  PARTISAN  CHRISTIAN   19 


Chapter  III.— HINDERANCES  TO  REVIVALS. 

THE  CHURCH  NOT  GENERALLY  HATED — A  TACIT  WANT  OF  FAITH 
IN  HKR  CLAIMS  A  CAUSE  OF  MORAL  OBDURACY  —  SOCIAL  CASTES 

 THE     SPIRITUAL    ELEMENTS    WANTING     IN  PERVASIVENESS 

 THE  MATERIALISM  OF  THE  POPULAR  MIND   27 


Chapter  IV.— HINDERANCES  TO  REVIVALS. 

THE  PROTEAN  CHARACTER  OF  UNBELIEF  —  THE  VERY  ELECT  MAY 

BE   DECEIVED  INFIDELITY    ASSUMING    TO    BE    AN    ANGEL  OF 

LIGHT  IT  FINDS  APOLOGY  FROM  THE  CONDUCT  OF  CHRISTIANS 

 AN  EXAMPLE  GIVEN  —  THE  PRKVALENCK  OF  PKRVERTED  SCI- 
ENCE    AND     PHILOSOPHY    FALSELY     SO     CALLED  MARVT.LOUS 

MATERIAL  PROGRESS  MAN'S  ABUSE  OF  BLESSINGS  AND  MISIN- 
TERPRETATION  OF    THE    PURPOSES   OF    THEIR  BESTOWMENT  

THE  PULPIT  SHOULD  ADAPT  ITSELF  TO  THE  POPULAR  MIND  — 
THE  LOGICAL  ELEMENT  MORE  PREDOMINANT  THAN  THE  EMO- 
TIONAL—  OUR  SUFFICIENCY  OP  GOD   34 


6 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter^  y.— HINDERANCES  to  REVIVALS— plan  OF 
RESISTANCE  PROPOSED. 

GERMAN  RATIONALISM  —  THK  EMIGRATION  O*'  ERROR — SPIRITUAI/- 

ISM  AND  ITS  COGNATES  DIFFERENCE   BETWEEN  THE  ETHICAL 

AND  THE  DOCTRINAL  —  A  DEFECT  IN  THE  PULPIT  AN  ILLUS- 
TRATION ILLUSTRATED  CONCLUSION  OF  A  LEGITIMATE  RATION- 
ALISM—  THE  PREACHER  SHOULD  STUDY  NATURE  —  A  PULPIT 
REFORM  SUGGESTED  PAGE  44 

Chapter  VL— PREACH  JESUS. 

THE   CENTRAL   GLORY  OF  THE    UNIVERSE  THE  WORLD'S  GREAT 

WAKT  JESUS    MUST     BE    PREACHED,    OR    THE    PULPIT  WILL 

BECOME  EXTINCT  BOSTON  UNITARIANISM  UNION  BETWEEN 

CHRIST  AND  HIS  MINISTERS  ILLUSTRATED  THE  CROSS  IN- 
VESTED   WITH    STUPENDOUS    EVIDENCES  MERITLESSNESS  OP 

MAN'S    RIGHTEOUSNESS  HOW    THE    SINNER  IS  SAVED  THE 

TRUE  PROTESTANT  IDEA  HOW  GOD  DESCENDS  TO  MAN'S  CA- 
PACITY—  THE  INCARNATION  CHRIST  ALWAYS  THE  PREACHER'S 

THEME   53 

Chapter  VII.— THE  CLASS-MEETING. 

WORKING  THE  SOCIAL  AND  SYMPATHETIC  PRINCIPLE  —  MAN  MORE 
SOCIAL    AS   HE   BECOMES   MORE    RELIGIOUS  —  THE    FOLLY  OF 

ANCHORITISM  THE  CLASS-MEETING  THE  CLASS-MEETING  AS 

THE     MEANS     OF    CONSECRATING     THE     SOCIAL  PRINCIPLE  

CLASS-MEETINGS  SUPPLY  A  NATURAL  AND  SPIRITUAL  WANT  

THEIR  PHILOSOPHY  ILLUSTRATED  THE  CONVERSATION  OF  THE 

CLASS-ROOM  THE   RECLAIMING  POWER  OF  CLASS-MEETINGS  

IMPORTANCE  OF  RELIGIOUS  CONVERSATION   65 

Chapteh  VIIL— revivals  A  WANT  OF  OUR  NATURE, 
AND  A  NECESSITY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

BEFINITION  OP  REVIVALS  —  ALL  HISTORY  ILLUSTRATES  THEIR  NE- 
CESSITY HOW  THE   QUESTION  IS  TO  BE   VIEWED  —  RELIGION 

AND  NATURE   TOO   OFTEN  DIVORCED  THE  CONDITION  OP  THE 

CHURCH  WITHOUT  REVIVALS  THE  MORAL  BEAUTY  OF  A  RE- 
VIVAL MANIFESTATION   78 

Chapter  IX.— PROTRACTED  MEETINGS. 

THE   ADAPTATION  OP  PROTRACTED    MEETINGS  TO  OUR  WANTS  

ORDINARY   AND    EXTRAORDINARY    MEANS    OF  GRACE  TAKING 

ADVANTAGE  OF  TIMES  AND  SEASONS — PASTORAL  ECONOMY  — 
OBJECTIONS  ANSWERED   85 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  X.— PROTRACTED  MEETINGS. 

EXTRAVAGANT  DEMONSTRATIONS  CORRECT  TEACHING  NEEDED  

RELIGIOUS  RESPONSES  LET  ALL  METHODISTS  SAY  *'  AMEN  "  

ALL    CORNERS    SHOULD    BE    "  AMEN    CORNERS   OBJECTIONS 

ANSWERED  THE  INVETERATE  FAULT-FINDER  NOTHING  HU- 
MAN PERFECT  APOSTASIES  IN  REVIVALS  THEIR  OCCURRENCE 

CONSIDERED  THE    MORAL    STATE   OF   THE    BACKSLIDER  NO 

ONE  EVER  MADE  WORSE  BY  CONVERSION  THE  BACKSLIDER  THE 

FIRST  TO  BE  RE-CONVERTED  PAGE  93 


Chapter  XI.— NECESSITY  OF  AGGRESSIVE  ENTERPRISE. 

A  RARE  BUT  INSIDIOUS  EVIL  EXPOSED  THE  FEARFUL  PREACHER 

 HIS  FEARS  FOUNDED  IN  A  FALSE  PHILOSOPHY  A  STUNTED 

CHURCH  INSTRUCT  THE  PEOPLE  IN  THE  AGGRESSIVE  MOVE- 
MENTS    OF    THE    CHURCH  THEY     ONLY    GROW   STRONG  BY 

BEARING  BURDENS  THE  "QUARTER  OF  A  DOLLAR"  TYPE  OF 

METHODISM  —  SPIRITUAL  BABIES  AT  FORTY  —  PLANS  AND  PUR- 
POSES   SHOULD    BE    LARGE  REASONS    WHY    THE   WEST  HAS 

BEEN  PARTICULARLY  FAVORED  WITH  REVIVALS — THE  PREACHER 
WHO  WILL  BE  BLESSED  WITH  THEM  —  A  WORKING  LAITY 
DETERMINES  A  CHURCH'S  PROSPERITY  —  DANGER  OF  METHOD- 
ISM BEING  OUTSTRIPPED  BY  SISTER  SECTS     103 


Chapter  XII.— NURSING  THE  YOUNG  CONVERT. 

A  DISPROPORTION  BETWEEN  CONVERSIONS  RECORDED  AND  ULTIMATE 
RESULTS  —  INCREASE  IN  THE  MEMBERSHIP  IN  THE  YEARS  1854-5 

NOT  FLATTERING  MORE  IMPORTANT  TO  TAKE  CARE  OF  WHAT 

WE  HAVE,  THAN  TO  SECURE  MORE  AT  THE  NEGLECT  OF  THAT  

THE  YOUNG  CONVERT  MUST  BE  INSTRUCTED  KIND  OF  IN- 
STRUCTION NEEDED  THE  HELP  PROVIDED  FOR  THE  PASTOR — • 

THE  CLASS-LEADER  OUR  CHURCH  LITERATURE  NECESSITY  OF 

CATECHETICAL  INSTRUCTION  THE  EXAMPLE  OF  THE  ANCIENT 

CHURCH  OUR  INCREASED  FACILITIES  FOR  NURSING  THE  YOUNG 

CONVERT  LOSS  TO  THE  ANCIENT  CHURCH  FOR  THE  WANT  OP 

THE    PRESS  THE  BIRTHPLACE   OF   THE  POPE  NECESSITY  OP 

SPREADING  OUR  BOOKS  —  TH^  YOUNG  CONVERT  TO  BE  AT  ONCE 

SUPPLIED  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  RELIGIO'US  WEEKLY  RELATION 

OF  RELIGIOUS  READING  TO  REVELATION  —  THE  BIBLE  ALWAYS  TO 
PRECEDE,  BUT  NEVER  SUPERSEDE  THE  CONSECRATED  TONGUE 
AND  PEN   113 


8 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  XIII.— THE  POWER  OF  KINDNESS. 

"WHAT  CHRISTIAN  KINDNESS  IS  NOT — CHRISTIAN  KINDNESS  DEFINED 

 ERRONEOUS  VIEWS  CORRECTED  THE  ESTHETIC  ELEMENT  OF 

KINDNESS  THE  POWER  OF  KINDNESS  ILLUSTRATED  RELATION 

OF  KINDNESS  TO  GOOD  MANNERS — ^KINDNESS  AS  A  REVIVAL  EL- 
EMENT—  CONSTITUTES  A  WANT  OF  THE  CHURCH^ — KINDNESS  A 
TEST  OP  CHRISTIAN  CHARACTER  PAGE  124: 


Chapter  XIY.— INFRACTIONS  OF  THE  LAW  OF  KIND- 
NESS CONSIDERED. 

LAW   OF  KINDNESS  VIOLATED  IN    SPIRIT  —  THE  PULPIT  SCOLD  

THE  ACID  REVIVALIST  RESULTS  OF  SUCH  REVIVALS  THE  RE- 
LATION OF  THE  TONES  OF  THE  VOICE  TO  KINDNESS  ANECDOTE 

OF  WHITEFIELD  VOICE  OF  THE  PREACHER  IN  THE  PULPIT  

ANECDOTE  OF  THE  LITTLE  GIRL  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  SUBJECT 

TOO  LITTLE  REALIZED  WORDS  UNFITLY  SPOKEN  PERSONAL- 
ITIES IN  DEBATE  AN  APOLOGY  FOR  THEIR  PREVALENCE  THE 

OLD  WRITERS  THE  YOUNG  WRITERS  REFORM  NEEDED...  133 


Chapter  XY.— THE  LAW  OF  FORGIVENESS. 

REVENGE    ALWAYS    A    VICE  —  ANECDOTE    OF    COL.  GARDINER  

REVENGE     PERPETUATES,     BUT     FORGIVENESS  EXTERMINATES 

WRONG — REACTING  POWER  OF  REVENGE  SMALL  RESENTMENTS 

SINFUL  THE     FACT    ILLUSTRATED  LEGAL    PUNISHMENT  OF 

CRIMINALS  NOT  REVENGE  SUGGESTIVE  PRINCIPLES  FORGIVE- 
NESS  AND   MERCY  FORGIVENESS   ESSENTIAL  TO  REVIVALS  

SOLEMNITY  OP  THE  SUBJECT   144 


Chapter  XYL— PIETY  THE  HOPE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

A  WORD  TO  THE  PREACHER  THE  LIFE  OR  DEATH  OP  A  CHURCH 

TO  BE  TESTED  BY  HER  PIETY  A  PHOSPHORESCENT  CHURCH  LIFE 

 ELEMENTS  OF  PIETY  TREATED  OF  ABSURDITY  OF  DIS- 
BELIEF IN  THE  SPIRITUALITY  OF  PIETY  SPIRITUALITY  OF  THE 

HEART  ONLY  CERTAINLY  KNOWN  BY  ITS  FRUITS  —  TEMPERS  AS 
A  TEST  OP  SPIRITUALITY — CONDUCT  AND  CREED  AS  PROOFS  OP 
SPIRITUALITY  —  IMPORTANCE  OF  HOLY  TEMPERS     153 


CONTENTS. 


9 


Chapter  XYII.— INTELLIGENCE  AS  AN  ELEMENT  OF 
PIETY. 

WHAT  TS  KNOWLEDGE  —  DEFINITION  OP  TRUTH  WHEN  KNOWL- 
EDGE   BECOMES    POWER  DIFFERENCE    BETWEEN  KNOWLEDGE 

AND    WISDOM  THE    KIND    OF    KNOWLEDGE    THE  CHRISTIAN 

SHOULD     SEEK  THE    BIBLE-READING    CHRISTIAN  SECURITY 

AGAINST  APOSTASY  —  THE  BIBLE  AND  POPULAR  LITERATURE  

THE  NEWSPAPER  AN  INTERPRETER  OF  THE  BIBLE  —  CHRISTIANS 
AND  THE  PROMISES  PAGE  159 


Chapter   XVIIL— MOTIVES   AND  INDIVIDUALITY  AS 
ELEMENTS  OF  PIETY. 

MOTIVES  —  DIVIDED  INTO  INNOCENT  AND  RELIGIOUS  AND  BOTH  

DISINTERESTED  BENEVOLENCE  SINISTJIR  MOTIVES — TWO  THINGS 

TO  BE  CONSIDERED  IN  THE  DOCTRINE  OF  MOTIVES  THE  MAN 

WHO  HANGS  OUT  HIS  OWN  SIGN  INDIVIDUALITY  A  CHARAC- 
TER FOUND  IN  THE  WAY  REWARD  PROPORTIONED  TO  ABILITY 

 ANECDOTE  OF  A  GREAT  GENERAL  —  THE  LONDON  MERCHANT  

IMPORTANT  LAW  OP  SPIRITUAL  GROWTH  —  REVIVAL  HELP- 
HINTS   166 


Chapter  XIX.— VARIETY  OF  MINISTERIAL  TALENT. 

VARIETY  OF  MINISTERIAL  TALENT   173 


Chapter  XX.— THE  PAST  AND  PRESENT— A  CHARAC- 
TER. 

THE  PAST  AND  PRESENT  A  CHARACTER   179 


Chapter  XXL— PASTORAL  VISITING. 

THE  FOOLISH  PHYSICIAN  AND  PREACHER  CONTRASTED — HOW  POWER 

MAY  BE  COLLECTED  FOR  THE  PULPIT  JOHN  E.  GOUGH  THE 

PEOPLE  TO  BE  SEEN  AT  THEIR  HOMES  A  GOOD  PASTOR  SELDOM 

IMPUTED  AN  INFERIOR  PREACHER  THE  PREACHER  WHO  CANNOT 

VISIT  ANECDOTE  OF  THE   CRIMEA  THE  MODEL  TEACHER  A 

MODEL  PASTOR  —  HEARTS  ARE  TO  BE  READ  AS  WELL  A3  BOOKS.  184 


10 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  XXII.— PASTORAL  VISITING. 

PASTORAL   AND    SOCIAL    VISITING  —  THE    PASTOR  ,  THE  COMMON 

PROPERTY  OF  ALL  —  BEING    INSTANT    IN  SEASON  THE  SICK 

ROOM  EMERGENCES — DEATH      IN      A      FAMILY  —  FUNERAL 

SERMONS  DUE  REFERENCE  TO  BE  HAD    TO  THE  CUSTOMS  OF 

SOCIETY  PAGE  192 


Chapter  XXIII.— EXCITEMENT. 

METHODISTS  NOT  ALARMED  EXCITEMENT    FEARED    BECAUSE  IT 

CONFLICTS  WITH  A  CREED  —  SELDOM  SUCCESSFULLY  GUARDED 
AGAINST  DEFINITION  OF  METHODISM — EXTRAVAGANCES  DEP- 
RECATED—  EXCITEMENT  ANALYZED  —  FOUR  CARDINAL  SOURCES 
OF  EMOTION  —  RELIGIOUS  EXCITEMENT  ALWAYS  WHOLESOME.  200 


Chapter  XXIY.— HAVE  FAITH  IN  REVIVALS. 

REVIVALS  SCRIPTURAL  —  THEIR  SPIRIT  FLOWS  IN  THE  PRAYERS  OF 
THE  BIBLE,  IN  THE  PROPHECIES  OF  THE  BIBLE,  IN  THE  PROMISES 

OF  THE  BIBLE,  AND  IN  BIBLE  HISTORY  SECULAR  HISTORY  OP 

REVIVALS  —  REVIVALS  AND  METHODISM  —  A  SOLECISM   208 


Chapter  XXV.— HOLINESS. 

DISTINCTIONS    AND    DEFINITIONS  —  THE    THING    AND    NOT  THE 

MODE  TO  BE  INVESTIGATED  AGREEMENT  AS  IT  RESPECTS  THE 

THING  IN    ESSENCE  DEFINITION    GIVEN  TRUE  STANDARD 

AROUND  WHICH  WE  CAN  HARMONIZE  QUESTIONS  WHICH  LIE 

BEYOND  PROFITABLE  INVESTIGATION  THE  THEORISTS  SPE- 
CIAL   MEETINGS    TO    SEEK    FOR    CHRISTIAN    HOLINESS  THE 

GRAND  PECULIARITY  ADVANCING   FROM    THE    "  HOPE  SO  "  TO 

THE  KNOW  SO   HOLINESS  UNDER  THE  DIFFERENT  DISPENSA- 
TIONS HOLINESS    THE    BIBLE'S    LAST    DEMAND     UPON  THE 

WORLD   214 


HELPS 

TO  THE 

PROMOTION  OF  REYIYALS. 

 >  4»»  .  

CHAPTEE  1. 

WHAT  IS   A  REVIVAL? 

THE  CHURCH  IN  NEED  OF  REVIVALS  A  REVIVAL  NOT  A  MIRACLE 

 REVIVALS  THE  RESULT  OF  THE  USE  OF  APPROPRIATE  MEANS 

 THE     PLACE     WHERE    REVIVALS     MUST     BEGIN  —  PRIVATE 

PRAYER    AND    PERSONAL    EFFORT  THE    WORKING    OF  THE 

SOCIAL  PRINCIPLE. 

Like  the  land  of  Israel  in  the  days  of  Elijah, 
the  Churches  are  withering  away  for  the  want 
of  a  revival  shower.  The  exceptions  are  rare. 
All  acknowledge  these  facts  with  regret,  and 
look  out  and  abroad  for  relief,  whether  they 
commence  to  work  at  home  to  secure  it  or  not. 
This  delineation  is  true  at  this  writing.  We 
hope  it  may  not  be,  dear  reader,  when  it  falls 
into  your  hands. 

What  is  a  revival,  and  how  can  we,  how 


12     HELPS  TO  THE  PliOMOTION  OF  REVIYALS. 

must  we,  labor  to  promote  it?  A  revival  is  not 
a  miracle.  Things  marvelous  in  our  eyes  may 
often  occur  in  a  revival,  but  miracles  are  not 
now  wrought  in  them.  A  miracle  is  the  setting 
aside  or  suspension  of  some  law  of  nature,  to 
show  that  God  is  above  nature,  to  prove  his  pres- 
ence, and  for  the  establishment  of  some  revela- 
tion which  he  is  about  to  make.  But  God  has 
made  all  the  revelation  to  man  that  he  will  ever 
make,  and  the  mission  of  miracles  has  ceased. 
God  has  revealed  himself,  and  accompanied  the 
revelation  by  miraculous  demonstration.  He 
would  now  show  that  he  is  the  author  of  nature 
and  her  laws,  by  always  acting  in  accordance 
with  the  requirements  of  the  latter,  and  thus 
evincing  his  approval  of  them.  We  are  not  to 
look,  then,  for  miracles  in  revivals.  The}^  are, 
the  result  of  natural  causes,  the  fruit  of  the  use 
of  appropriate  means,  and  the  certainty  or  prob- 
ability of  their  occurrence  must  be  judged  of 
by  considering  the  means  used,  the  wisdom  em- 
ployed in  the  use  of  these  means,  and  the  oppo- 
sition to  be  overcome. 

A  revival  consists  of  a  greatly  increased  in- 
terest on  the  subject  of  religion  on  the  part  of 
believers ;  in  which  they  are  blessedly  conscious 
of  an  increase  of  love  to  God,  faith  in  his  truth, 


WHAT  IS  A  REYIYAL?  13 

a  growth  in  all  the  graces  of  the  Spirit,  and  a 
deep  solicitude  for  the  salvation  of  sinners.  In 
this  spiritual  condition,  believers  are  ready  in 
word,  and  in  spirit,  and  by  action,  to  exert  them- 
selves to  bring  souls  to  the  cross.  The  Church, 
made  up  of  such  believers,  becomes  a  quickened 
mass  of  spiritual  life,  and  the  very  atmosphere 
becomes  electrical  with  spiritual  influences. 
The  social  principle  is  brought  into  action,  and 
man  becomes  a  missionary  to  his  fellow,  neigh- 
bor, child,  or  kinsman,  under  circumstances  of 
very  great  advantage,  the  Holy  Ghost  being 
present,  to  impart  power  from  on  high,  just  in 
proportion  to  our  faith  and  eflfort.  Led  by  the 
faithful  pastor,  as  an  army  by  its  general,  this 
squadron  of  live  Christians  are  going  forth  into 
the  highways  and  hedges,  and  "  compelling  them 
to  come  in."  O,  what  a  lovely  sight  is  this,  one 
over  which  the  angels  in  heaven  swell  higher  the 
notes  of  gladness,  and  bend  from  their  celestial 
stations  to  gratulate  men  on  earth.  How  often 
has  our  poor  heart  dilated  over  scenes  like  these, 
and  how  sweet  still  their  memory  I  When  will 
these  days  of  refreshing  again  revisit  the  whole 
Church — days  when  saints  were  thrilled  with  un- 
earthly joy  and  transport,  and  sinners,  willing 
and  weeping,  came  trembling  to  the  altar,  with 


14:     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  EEVIYALS. 

the  inquiry  on  their  lips,  uttered  in  fragments," 
by  reason  of  their  deep,  heart-swelling  sobs, 
mat  must  I  do  to  be  saved?"  "  O  Lord,  re- 
vive thy  work."  The  right  place  for  a  revival 
to  commence,  then,  is  in  the  Church — in  the 
hearts  of  believers. 

But  what  means  are  to  be  employed?  And 
here  we  would  insist  upon  the  importance  of 
considering  revivals  as  the  result  of  the  use  of 
the  appropriate  means,  so  far  as  man  is  concern- 
ed. If  we  consider  them  as  miracles — as  occur- 
ring arbitrarily — ^as  being  confined  to  particular 
seasons  of  the  year,  we  are  in  great  danger  of 
losing  sight  of  our  responsibility  in  the  case  ;  of 
waiting  for  a  revival  instead  of  working  for  it. 
The  Holy  Ghost  is  always  equally  ready,  but 
man,  though  always  equally  needy,  is  not  always 
equally  ready.  Would  we  have  a  revival  ?  then, 
the  first  thing  to  be  done  is  not  to  look  to  others 
— not  to  wait  the  coming  of  some  famous  re- 
vivalist— not  to  look  out  of  ourselves,  but  into 
our  own  hearts,  and  then  up  to  heaven.  What 
IS  our  own  condition  as  it  respects  our  personal 
piety  and  holiness?  What  is  the  condition  of 
our  spiritual  emotions  ?  Are  we  merely  formal 
in  duty  and  moral  in  practice,  and  have  we  come 
to  conclude  that  pure  and  undefiled  religion  be- 


WHAT  IS  A  KEVIVAL? 


16 


fore  God  consists  in  this  ?  What  are  our  spirit- 
ual tastes  ?  Do  we  linger  as  upon  the  banks  of 
the  pure  river  of  the  waters  of  life,  clear  as 
crystal,  over  the  inspired  page,  and  hear  the 
whispers  of  the  Spirit,  and  feel  his  refreshing- 
presence  like  the  fragrance  of  the  flower,  in  the 
word  of  the  Lord,  which  endureth  forever !  Do 
we,  betimes,  love  retirement,  and  seek  the  closet 
for  uninterrupted  communion  with  our  heavenly 
Father,  that  he  may  reward  us  openly  ?  With- 
out private  prayer,  personal  religion  loses  its 
vitality,  and  ceases  to  be  a  constant  and  abiding 
joy  to  its  possessor — a  well  of  water  within  the 
heart,  springing  up  into  everlasting  life.  O, 
this  is  the  place  to  begin  !  What  would  be  the 
result  of  the  re- erection  of  the  four  hundred 
thousand  fallen  closet-altars  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  ?  We  verily  believe  that  no 
religious  duty  equaling  it  in  importance  is  so 
frequently  and  generally  neglected  as  that  of 
secret  prayer.  Hence,  the  spiritual  life  of  many 
is  like  a  wet- weather  spring,  when  it  ought  to 
be  perennial,  a  living  spring. 

There  is  an  individualism  in  the  spiritual 
life  that  must  be  commenced  and  be  con- 
tinued by  an  habitually  secret  intercourse 
with  God.    This  fact  is  exemplified  in  the 


16     HELPS  TO  THE  PKOMOTION   OF  REVIVALS. 

lives  of  all  good  men,  both  inspired  and 
uninspired.  In  holy  intercourse  with  God, 
in  heavenly  vision,  patriarchs,  prophets,  and 
apostles  have  always  commenced  their  event- 
ful careers.  ^'From  the  closet  to  the  Church, 
from  our  knees  to  the  pulpit,"  were  the  mot- 
toes of  the  reformers ;  and  every  revival  min- 
ister since  their  days  knows  that  here  is  the 
hiding  of  his  power,  the  beginning  of  his 
strength. 

The  Church,  then,  would  she  have  a  revi- 
val, must  potentialize  herself  by  an  individual 
resort  to  the  holiest  altar  of  the  cathedral,  the 
one  that  shuts  out  alike  the  gaze  of  man,  the  in- 
terruption of  the  world,  and  leaves  the  worshiper 
alone  with  his  God,  like  Jacob  at  Bethel,  at  the 
hour  of  midnight.  "  Give  me  Scotland,  or  I 
die  !"  "  Give  me  souls,  or  take  my  soul !"  were 
the  overheard  closet  supplications  of  John  Knox 
and  the  rapt  Whitefield.  O,  for  this  fervor  of  the 
hidden  life,  that  takes  the  kingdom  of  heaven  by 
force ;  the  absence  of  this  is  the  generic  cause 
of  the  absence  of  revivals,  and  the  prevalence 
of  dearth  and  spiritual  languor.  It  was  while 
Cornelius  fasted  and  prayed,  that  a  man — an 
angel,  Jesus  Christ — "stood  before  him  in  bright 
clothing,"  and  instructed  him  in  the  way  of  life 


WHAT  IS  A  REVIVAL? 


17 


everlasting.  The  example  of  Cornelius,  the  first 
Gentile  convert,  is  still  a  model  for  the  whole 
Church.  Among  professors,  the  sins  of  omission 
are  greater  than  those  of  commission,  and  of  the 
first  named  the  greatest  of  all  is  that  of  restrain- 
ing prayer  before  God. 

Beginning  with  the  right  duty  in  the  right 
place,  family,  social,  and  public  prayer,  attended 
with  a  greatly  quickened  faith,  and  an  increased 
love  for  all  the  services  and  ordinances  of  the 
sanctuary,  will  be  the  result  naturally,  as  flows 
the  stream  when  the  fountain  is  opened.  A  re- 
vival is  the  result  of  a  union  of  effort  on  the 
part  of  spiritually  intensified  individuals.  ^'For 
where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in  my 
name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them."  It 
must  commence  with  the  individual,  and  work 
socially ;  commence  within,  and  work  outwardly ; 
commence  in  the  Church,  and  especially  with 
the  ministry  of  the  Church.  ''And  there  shall 
be  like  people,  like  priest."  It  must  be  com- 
menced with  the  grace  we  have,  and  not  wait 
for  grace  to  commence  it.  "  Unto  him  that  hath 
shall  be  given."  The  Holy  Ghost  is  always 
w^illing  and  waiting  to  shed  on  the  Church  the 
spirit  of  revival !    "  If  ye  then^  being  evil,  know 

how  to  give  good  things  to  your  children,  how 
2 


18     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  KEVIYALS. 


much  more  shall  your  Father  in  heaven  give 
the  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  him  ?"  If  a 
Church  be  destitute  of  a  revival,  whose  fault  is 
it?  Let  every  Christian  and  every  Christian 
pastor  start  the  searching  inquiry,  "Is  it  I?" 
^^Lord,  is  it  I?" 


HIia)ERANOES  TO  KBVIVALS. 


19 


CHAPTER  11. 

HINDERANCES    TO  REVIVALS. 

WANT  OP  FAITH  A  REVIVAL   FAITH   DEFINED  THE  QOSPEL*S 

CROWNING  GIFT  THE  MORAL  MIGHT  OF  THE  OLD  REFORMERS 

 THE   OFFICIAL    CHRISTIAN  THE  DIPLOMATIC  CHRISTIAN  

THE  PARTISAN  CHRISTIAN. 

First  we  will  mention  the  absence  of  a  pure, 
simple,  and  vigorous  faith,  on  the  part  of 
Christians.  By  a  pure  faith,  we  mean  that 
which  troubles  not  itself  with  rationalizing  or 
philosophizing;  that  which  rises  above  syllo- 
gisms ;  that  which  stops  not  to  reason  on  questions 
eternally  settled,  but  takes  God  at  his  word ; 
that  which  believes  his  promises,  interpreted 
upon  the  most  literal  principle,  so  that  they 
accord  with  the  analogy  of  Scripture,  and  the 
evidence  of  the  senses.  It  is  not  the  faith  of 
transcendentalism,  which  affects  to  understand 
itself,  and  deceives  itself,  by  conceit,  into  a  be- 
lief that  it  does ;  nor  of  German  rationalism, 
which  affects  to  believe  nothing  that  it  cannot 
demonstrate;  nor  the  faith  of  the  Eomanist, 
which  pollutes  itself  by  believing  what  is  not 


20     HELPS  TO  THE  J>ROM0TION   OF  REVIYALS. 

required,  and  omitting  what  is;  nor  is  it  the 
faith  of  ignorance,  which  substitutes  for  a  con- 
fiding conception  of  the  great  truths  of  Chris- 
tianity, a  mere  spasmodic  and  evanescent  fervor. 
By  a  simple  faith,  we  mean  that  whicli  refuses 
to  parley  wdth  obstacles,  like  Abraham  when  re- 
quired to  offer  up  Isaac ;  a  faith  that  does  not 
disdain  means  because  they  are  seemingly  sim- 
ple, but  which  goes  and  washes  in  the  Eiver 
Jordan,  like  the  leper  in  the  days  of  the  proph- 
et, no  matter  how  loathsome  the  disease;  a 
faith,  whose  motto  is,  With  God  all  things  are 
possible  to  them  that  believe.  By  a  vigorous 
faith,  we  mean  that  which  embraces  the  heart 
as  well  as  the  mind ;  tlie  affections,  as  well  as 
the  enlightened  judgment.  Perfect  faith  is  per- 
fect love  and  perfect  confidence  acting  in  sub- 
missive harmonj^  This  is  faith  of  that  vigorous 
type  that  secures  a  personal  salvation  with  the 
evidence  of  it  in  the  witness  of  the  Spirit,  and 
wliicli  makes  affliction  delight,  infirmity  and 
tribulation  glory,  and  duty  a  relief.  But  O, 
how  rare  this  faith!  how  prevalent  unbelief! 
And,  in  view  of  the  absence  of  revivals,  one 
almost  fancies  he  literally  hears  again  the  lan- 
guage, "  Christ  could  do  no  mighty  work  there, 
because  of  their  unbelief." 


HTNDERANCES  TO  REVIVALS. 


21 


Brethren  of  tlie  pulpit  and  the  pews,  let  the 
prayer  ascend :  Lord,  we  believe,  but  help  thou 
our  unbelief!  Yes,  here  is  just  the  point,  the 
gist,  the  canker  at  the  heart  and  the  lungs  of  a 
consumptive  Church.  We  believe,  but  we  have 
not  faith ;  or,  if  it  be  liked  better,  we  have  faith, 
but  not  enough  of  it.  We  believe  in  the  Bible 
historically,  conform  to  its  worship  formally,  and 
practice  its  morality  prudentially.  But  the 
legalist  and  the  moralist,  the  followers  of  Moses 
and  Epictetus,  are  but  the  meager  skeleton 
samples  of  Christians ;  they  are  but  the  bones 
in  the  vision,  which  have  just  stood  up,  it  is  true, 
but  the  flesh  and  sinews  have  not  come  upon 
them;  they  are  not  the  temples  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  The  crowning  gift  of  the  Gospel  is  the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  and  he  that  hath  not 
this  gift  is  destitute  of  power  from  on  high — a 
dead-head — a  negative  pole  in  the  communion 
of  saints.  Like  the  foolish  virgins  in  the  parable, 
his  lamp,  though  it  may  once  have  been  lit,  has 
gone  out ;  or,  like  the  branch  which  abideth  not 
in  the  vine,  it  is  withering  away,  though  it  may 
yet  hang  pendent  from  its  parent  stem.  When 
will  Christians  learn  that  the  life  and  vitality 
of  religion  consist  in  an  experimental  con- 
sciousness of  a  spiritual  union  with  God,  through 


22     HELPS  TO  THE   PROMOTION  OF  EEYIVALS. 

our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ?  The  restoration  of  this 
life-imparting  and  life-intensifying  union,  is  the 
first  form  and  foundation  of  everything  that  is 
worth  calling  a  revival.  In  reading  the  lives  of 
the  saints,  whether  sacred  or  profane — those 
saints,  we  mean,  who  were  moral  giants,  and 
shook  the  earth  with  their  tread  and  the  heavens 
with  their  prayers,  though  constantly  exclaiming, 
"of  ourselves  we  can  do  nothing" — we  find  them 
preeminently  distinguished  for  this  simple,  pure, 
and  vigorous  faith.  They  consecrated  them- 
selves to  God  in  its  hallowed  flame,  with  rap- 
turous resolves  and  alacrity,  though  the  flames 
of  martyrdom  curled  over  the  pathway  of  duty, 
or  the  clanking  chains  of  dungeons  commingled 
with  the  prayers  of  their  persecutors ;  for  no  such 
persecutors  as  confronted  many  of  them  are  per- 
mitted to  confront  Christians  now.  What,  with 
such  obstacles  removed  out  of  the  way,  would 
such  types  of  the  Christian  character  do  for  the 
world  now,  where  but  a  tithe  of  those  professing 
evangelical  Christianity,  thus  to  live  up  to  their 
privileges,  and  take  to  themselves  this  great 
power  of  compelling  the  sinner  to  come  in ! 
The  great  defect  of  the  Christian  character,  at 
this  age,  we  apprehend,  is,  that  of  being  legal^ 
ofliicial,  diplomatic,  and  partisan.    To  obey  the 


HINDERANCES  TO  REVIVALS. 


23 


Discipline  of  the  Church,  and  the  moral  law 
of  God,  with  some  faint  resolves  of  intending 
to  be  more  spiritual,  seems  to  quite  satisfy  the 
consciences  of  some.  Cursed  be  such  opiates! 
Away  with  such  chloroform  of  modern  invention, 
the  very  mesmeric  manipulations  of  the  devil. 

By  an  oflScial  piety,  we  mean  that  which 
gets  along  easy,  whether  as  class-leader,  local 
preacher,  or  pastor ;  many  of  the  latter  often 
seeming  to  think,  or,  rather,  so  acting,  that  the 
thoughts  of  men  will  not  rise  any  higher  in 
reference  to  them,  than  that  preaching  is  one  of 
the  common  callings  of  life,  and  an  honorable 
means  of  at  least  a  frugal  livelihood.  Class- 
leaders  of  such  spirit  parrot  over  the  same  stere- 
otyped stories  and  phrases,  until  insipidity  and 
monotony  become  the  terror  of  the  class-room, 
and  flow  out  by  imitation  into  the  thinly  at- 
tended, and  late  and  irregular  arriving,  weekly 
prayer-meeting.  Such  pastors,  too,  are  often 
found  feeding,  discouraging,  and  disgusting  their 
flocks  with  stale  and  wormy  manna ;  using  that 
which  has  been  kept  over  too  long,  rather  than 
gather  it  freshly  descended  from  heaven. 
•  By  the  diplomatic  Christian,  or  Christian 
minister,  we  mean  the  man  whose  whole  soul 
seems  to  be  absorbed,  like  Martha  at  Bethany, 


2i     HELPS  TO  THE  PKOXOTIOX  OF  REYIYALS. 

with  too  much  serving.  There  are  wrongs  la 
the  Discipline,  order,  and  policy  of  the  Church, 
not  here  and  there  an  obvious,  colossal  wrong, 
but  wrongs,  in  his  view,  almost  innumerable ; 
and  with  such,  every  inconsiderable  defect  looms 
up  into  a  hydra,  which  must  be  immediately 
righted,  cured,  or  the  Church,  like  the  Turkish 
empire,  is  on  her  last  legs,  and  only  asks  decent 
burial.  Or,  another  type  of  this  diplomatic 
Christian  character  consists  in  immensely  busy- 
ing itself  about  the  mere  external  manifestations 
of  the  enterprise,  and  the  benevolence  of  the 
Church.  They  have  no  time  for  anything  but 
to  build  academies,  seminaries,  and  colleges; 
multiply,  in  some  form,  organizations  of  aggress 
iveness — ^fiscal  plans  of  relief  and  Church  ag 
gression;  no  time,  we  say,  for  this  spiritual 
intensification  of  the  man  personal  in  the 
Church  of  God;  no  time  to  arm  themselves 
with  those  elements  of  moral  power,  which  alone 
can  result  in  the  sinner's  conversion.  Now,  we 
like  this  man  of  so  great  a  zeal  for  the  mere 
material  and  external  in  our  Zion,  but  we  know 
well  that  the  health  of  the  whole  Church  re- 
quires that  his  zeal  have  a  higher  origin  ;  that 
these  things  he  ought  to  do,  and  not  to  leave 
the  other  undone.     The  great  error  of  the 


HINDERANCES  TO  KEVIYALS. 


25 


Church,  in  every  age,  has  been  that  of  having 
her  attention  diverted  from  the  spiritual  and  the 
invisible,  to  the  external  and  the  visible.  Like 
the  tree  that  has  suddenly  lost  its  powers  to 
drink  in  life  from  the  earth  through  its  root- 
lungs,  and  dies,  though  covered  with  fruit  and 
foliage,  assuming  in  its  death  all  the  fascinating 
and  dolphin  hues  of  our  Western  forests  in 
autumn,  is  such  a  Church.  We  hope  our  read- 
ers will  profit  by  the  suggestive  simile.  All  our 
works  must  be  wrought  in  God,  or  they  are  but 
the  hay,  the  wood,  and  the  stubble  ;  at  best,  the 
precious  stones.  Methodism  builds  a  church 
daily,  but  what  avails  this,  if  she  has  acres  of 
church  room  to  spare  all  over  the  land,  and  sin- 
ners rush  to  hell  like  flocks  of  shepherdless 
sheep  rushing  into  the  jaws  of  the  foe,  because 
she  has  not  in  these  churches  altars  blazing  with 
heaven-descended  fire,  to  arrest  their  attention 
or  summon  their  presence  ?  Catholic  countries 
are  full  of  churches  :  Paris  has  church  room  for 
nearly  every  thousand  of  her  population,  and 
yet  she  has  lost  her  power,  and  deservedly  so, 
to  attract  the  mass  to  her  altars.  O  God, 
make  our  Zion  to  the  people  of  this  country, 
what  the  pool  of  Bethesda  was  to  the  afflicted 
and  the  maimed  of  Jerusalem.    They  resorted 


26     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  EEVIVALS. 

thither,  because  a  messenger  from  heaven  de- 
scended and  troubled  the  waters. 

By  the  partisan  Christian,  we  mean  the  man 
of  great  denominational  confidence,  of  profound 
respect  for  old-fashioned  Methodism ;  one  that 
is  perpetually  dilating  on  what  Methodism  has 
done ;  and  his  denominational  egotism  is  perpet- 
ually oozing  out,  not  only  at  a  proper  time  and  a 
proper  place,  and  with  good  taste,  but  at  all  times, 
and  on  all  occasions.  Like  the  Jews  in  the  days 
of  the  Saviour,  such  persons'  liveliest  emotions 
seem  to  be  kindled  up  in  an  overweening  venera- 
tion for  the  fathers,  with  an  exaggerated  estimate 
of  whatever  has  passed  in  the  history  of  our 
Church,  accompanied  with  a  disposition  to  de- 
preciate, or  look  with  suspicion  or  distrust  on 
whatever  is  present.  We  sometimes  fear  that, 
for  the  interests  of  revivals,  this  character  is 
quite  sufliciently  numerous.  The  Jews,  in  the 
zenith  of  their  apostasy,  beautified  the  tombs  of 
the  prophets,  and  yet  beheaded '  John  the  Bap- 
tist, and  crucified  Christ.  But  we  have  only 
space  to  hold  the  mirror  for  a  moment  before 
this  character,  and  to  ask  him  to  join  with  us  in 
the  common-place  and  yet  appropriate  prayer : 
Lord,  give  us  all  more  religion  !  "  O  Lord,  in 
the  midst  of  these  years,  revive  thy  work  1" 


HrNDKBAKCES  TO  REVIVALS. 


27 


CHAPTER  III. 

HINDERANCES  TO  REVIVALS. 

THE  CHURCH  NOT  GENERALLY  HATED  A  TACIT  WANT  OF  FAITH 

IN  HER  CLAIMS  A  CAUSE  OF  MORAL  OBDURACY  SOCIAL  CASTES 

 THE     SPIRITUAL    ELEMENTS    WANTING     IN  PERVASIVENESS 

 THE  MATERIALISM  OF  THE  POPULAR  MIND. 

This  chapter  shall  be  confined  to  the  considera- 
tion of  obstructions  that  lie  between  the  Church 
and  the  sinner — between  the  Church  and  the 
popular  mind.  And  here  we  will  announce  a 
conviction,  which,  though  most  reluctant  to  en- 
tertain, yet  are  we  compelled  to  entertain  it. 
We  live  in  a  day  when  the  obstacles  to  the 
spread  of  a  spiritual  and  experimental  Christian- 
ity are  greater  than  they  have  been  before  in 
half  an  age.  We  speak  more  particularly  of 
this  country,  though  we  fear  that  the  same  is 
true  of  Christendom  generally.  Among  these 
obstacles  is  not  to  be  ranked  a  growing  con- 
tempt for  the  Church,  its  services  and  its  ordi- 
nances. The  Church  is  not  despised  by  the 
world,  for  it  is  not  felt  by  it  to  be  particularly 
in  the  way.    Men  of  intelligence  have  come  to 


28     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

realize  the  great  fact  of  all  history — that  relig- 
ion and  worship  of  some  sort  are  but  the  crop- 
ping out  of  man's  strongest  instincts ;  and  see- 
ing that  human  nature  was  not  made  to  do 
without  some  such  things,  they  are  not  destruc- 
tionists  in  their  feelings  with  respect  to  the 
Church,  but  look  upon  it,  upon  the  whole,  as 
one  of  the  highest  and  purest  forms  of  what  they 
realize  to  be  necessary  to  human  nature.  They 
prefer  all  the  stir  that  is  made  about  religion,  to 
no  religion.  Hence,  for  this  reason,  as  well  as 
for  others  that  might  be  named,  we  often  see 
noble  examples  in  pecuniary  contributions,  and 
other  courtly  acts,  involving  the  interests  of  the 
Church  and  its  ministry,  on  the  part  of  men 
whose  hearts  seem  dead  to  every  awakening, 
spiritual,  and  evangelical  visitation;  and  for  such 
acts  of  benevolence  and  amenity,  for  ourselves, 
we  feel  thankful.  The  Church,  too,  is  high  in 
popular  favor,  from  the  fact  that  it  always  takes 
hold,  in  some  form,  of  some  of  those  cords  that 
chain  the  hearts  of  men.  In  some  localities  it 
is  a  place  of  fashionable  resort,  the  weekly  ren- 
dezvous of  a  large  representation  of  the  social 
circles ;  (though  everybody  affects  to  despise  aris- 
tocracy and  fashion,  yet  are  they  really  always 
and  ever  the  idol  of  the  popular  heart ;)  resorts 


HINDERANCES  TO  HEVIVALS. 


29 


where  the  socially  esthetic,  chastened  and  re- 
fined by  the  sacred,  finds  a  ready  and  free  in- 
dulgence. Most  men,  also,  still  respect  the 
Church,  because  some  members  of  their  family 
or  ancestry,  a  pious  parent  or  grandmother, 
there  sought  refuge  and  rest  at  the  foot  of  her 
altars.  No,  no,  the  American  people  do  not 
despise  the  Church,  nor  plan  in  the  dark,  fili- 
bustering expeditions  against  her.  Their  reason- 
ings, instincts,  memories,  all  yet  bind  them  to 
the  Church.  Why,  then,  has  not  the  Church 
more  power  over  them  ?  Why  the  genuine  phe- 
nomena of  conversion,  old-fashioned  conversion 
if  you  please,  so  rare  ? 

Nor  must  we,  in  considering  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  revivals,  urge  their  necessity  from  any 
remarkable  decline  in  memhership  on  the  part 
of  any  of  the  evangelical  branches  of  the  Church 
famil}^  In  particular  localities  such  diminu- 
tions are  not  uncommon ;  but,  as  a  whole,  statis- 
tics show  that  every  branch  of  the  Church  has 
continued,  and  does  still  continue  to  progress 
numerically,  in  wealth,  and  social  consequence. 
But  still,  every  thinker  upon  this  subject  seems 
fully  aware,  that,  if  there  be  not  in  the  Church 
(and  we  thank  God  that  there  is  not)  the  total 
absence  of  the  spiritual  element  that  descended 


30     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS, 

at  Pentecost,  there  is  an  immense  and  lam- 
entable absence  of  pervasiveness  on  the  part 
of  this  element.  The  leaven  is,  indeed,  hid  in 
the  meal,  but  the  process  of  leavening  seems 
feeble  and  slow.  Like  the  barometer,  that  fore- 
tells the  storm,  while  the  golden,  hazy  light  of 
the  softest  calm  sheds  beauty  over  the  land- 
scape, and  the  balmy  zephyrs  do  not  turn  aside 
the  butterfly  in  his  flight,  so  every  deeply-spirit- 
ual mind  yet  feels  the  pressure  of  the  world's 
great  necessity,  and  sighs  with  a  sickening  and 
sinking  heart  over  the  desolations  of  Zion.  Not, 
indeed,  over  her  material  any  more  than  over 
her  numerical  desolations.  Such  heart  feels 
that  the  Church  is  prosperous  in  all  her  exter- 
nal manifestations,  scarcely  less  than  society 
or  the  commonwealth,  in  this  age  of  unparalleled 
material  prosperity.  But  what  pious  heart  knows 
not  that  the  strength  of  a  Church  consists  not  in 
numbers,  any  more  than  do  railroads  make  the 
way  to  heaven  shorter  and  easier.  The  strength 
of  the  Church  consists  not  in  the  magnificence 
of  her  altars,  any  more  than  did  its  purity  con- 
sist in  the  gorgeousness  of  her  temple  (a  splen- 
dor that  dimmed  the  luster  of  the  sun,  and  smote 
the  beholder  with  blindness)  at  the  time  of  the 
crucifixion.    Externals  are  not  to  be  depreciated, 


HINDERANCES  TO  REVIVALS. 


31 


but  the  spiritual  and  the  invisible,  of  which  they 
are  but  the  husks,  are  to  be  exalted.  Not  in 
this  mountain,  nor  in  that,  but  in  spirit  and  in 
truth,  God  is  to  be  worshiped.  Why,  then,  we 
again  ask,  this  generally  pervading  want  of 
power  on  the  part  of  the  Church,  the  want  of 
spiritual  aggressiveness,  the  want  to  humble,  to 
save,  and  to  develop  the  spiritual  life  of  the  sin- 
ner? On  the  part  of  many  members  of  the 
Church  it  would  be  the  veriest  croakery,  if  not 
slander,  to  say,  that  they  are  not  as  holy  as  they 
ever  were;  ay,  more,  their  intelligence  is  greatly 
increased,  their  habitudes  of  piety  matured  by 
experience,  their  spirituality  is  of  a  more  mascu- 
line and,  therefore,  effective  type.  Nor  will  it 
do  to  depreciate  either  the  piety  or  talent  of 
the  pulpit ;  for  if  it  be  no  better  in  these  re- 
spects, it  is  scarcely  reasonable  or  philosophical 
to  suppose  it  to  be  any  worse.  In  an  age  of 
such  mighty  progress,  to  make  it  an  exception 
to  all  progress,  would  be  to  assume  a  position 
immensely  difficult  to  prove.  Relatively,  we 
doubt  not,  the  pulpit  is  weaker ;  weaker,  be- 
cause the  obstacles  to  be  overcome  are  stronger; 
but  here  we  anticipate  the  question,  which  w^e 
will  again  ask,  and  then  answer :  Why  are  not 
conversions  more  frequent?  Why  are  not  mani- 


32     HELPS  TO  THE  PBOMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

festations  of  spiritual  life,  of  holy  living,  more 
common  ? 

Is  not  this  the  answer:  That  while,  on  the 
part  of  men,  respect  for  the  Church  has  not 
been  diminished,  and  even  confidence  in  the 
great  principles  of  Gospel  morality,  in  the  cer- 
tainty with  which  these  principles  follow  their 
tendencies,  has  actually  been  on  the  increase 
in  the  popular  mind,  there  has  actually  been 
going  on,  at  the  same  time,  a  sad  reaction  in 
another  direction  ?  Has  not  the  public  mind,  in 
respect  to  Christianity,  been  like  two  counter 
currents  ;  like  a  suddenly -swollen  river,  which 
runs  down  stream  on  one  side,  and  up  stream 
on  the  opposite  bank?  What  we  mean  is  this: 
there  is  a  sadly-increasirfg  w^ant  of  confidence 
in  the  popular  mind  in  such  truths  as  regenera- 
tion and  sanctification  by  the  Holy  Spirit ;  par- 
don and  purity,  by  faith  in  an  atoning  Saviour, 
accompanied  by  the  witness  of  the  Spirit,  which 
Spirit  is  to  continue  to  take  of  the  things  which 
are  Christ's,  and  reveal  them  to  the  apprehen- 
sion of  the  renewed  mind,  and  constitute  the  at- 
mosphere of  the  soul  in  that  hidden  life,  that 
kingdom  of  Christ  which  is  not  of  this  world. 
Is  there  not  an  increasing  skepticism  to  the  ex- 
perimental verities  of  the  Gospel  ?    Does  not  the 


niNDERANCES  TO  REYTVALS.  33 

popular  mind,  everywhere,  tiacitly  look  upon  the 
spiritual  essentials  of  a  heaven-descended  evan- 
gelism, as  dogmas  about  which  it  is  not  called 
to  concern  itself?  Thi»,  we  think,  is  that  form 
of  infidelity,  the  united  product  of  many  other 
forms,  and  the  careful  nursing  of  many  other 
modern  things,  that  constitutes  the  very  Alp  and 
Apennine  ramparts  that  now  lie  before  the 
Church,  in  her  attempts  to  promote  revivals. 
The  fruitful  causes  of  this  colossal  obstacle,  and 
the  course  to  be  pursued  in  order  to  overcome 
It,  may  constitute  the  theme  of  future  chapters. 
In  the  meantime,  we  close  this  by  an  exhorta- 
tion to  our  brethren,  to  "strengthen  the  things 
which  remain,  that  are  ready  to  die." 

3 


34:     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

HINDERANCES  TO  REVIVALS. 

THE  PROTEAN  CHARACTER  OF  UNBELIEF  —  THE  VERY  ELECT  MAY 
BE  DECETTED  —  INFIDELITY  ASSUMING  TO  BE  AN  ANGEL  OF 
LIGHT  —  IT  FINDS  APOLOGY  FROM  THE  CONDUCT  OF  CHRISTIANS 
—  AN  EXAMPLE  GIVEN  —  THE  PREVALENCE  OF  PERVERTED  SCI- 
ENCE AND  PHILOSOPHY  FALSELY  SO  CALLED  —  MARVELOUS 
MATERIAL  PROGRESS  —  MAN^S  ABUSE  OF  BLESSINGS  AND  MISIN- 
TERPRETATION OP  THE  PURPOSES  OF  THEIR  BESTOWMENT  — 
THE  PULPIT  SHOULD  ADAPT  ITSELF  TO  THE  POPULAR  MIND  — 
THE  LOGICAL  ELEMENT  MORE  PREDOMINANT  THAN  THE  EMO- 
TIONAL—OUR SUFFICIENCY  OP  GOD. 

In  the  last  chapter  we  mentioned,  as  the  great 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  Church's  access  to 
the  outsiders  and  sinnersj  the  existence  of  popu- 
lar infidelity  in  regard  to  the  experimental  veri- 
ties, the  spiritual  truths  of  the  Gospel.  This  type 
of  infidelity  is  not  outspoken,  it  hides  itself  in 
silence  ;  w^e  would  that  it  existed  in  another  than 
tacit  form.  Like  Satan,  from  the  time  that  he 
entered  the  serpent  until  he  went  into  the  swine 
of  the  Gadarenes,  so  does  infidelity  assume  all 
shapes.  It  has  as  many  incarnations  as  the 
Brahmin  god  Yishnu ;  like  Satan,  too,  one  of 
its  oldest  tricks  is  to  conceal  its  preserce.  It 


HINDERANCES  TO  KEVIYALS. 


35 


may  be  that  the  devil's  power  is  greatly  in- 
creased because  he  keeps  himself  invisible. 
The  form  of  infidelity  we  are  considering,  also, 
is  so  subtle,  that  it  may  even  deceive,  and  often 
does,  its  own  possessor ;  he  may  not  always  be 
conscious  of  the  vital  extent  to  which  he  is  a 
hell-exposed  unbeliever ;  like  as  the  odors  of  the 
fabled  upas,  may  the  dreadful  conclusion  which 
he  has  settled  in  his  own  mind,  rest  in  his  own 
consciousness,  and  yet,  like  it,  its  subtle  virus  is 
fatal.  "  Yerily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you.  Ye  must 
be  born  of  the  Spirit." 

Every  form  of  infidelity  has  its  own  particu- 
lar epoch,  in  which  it  flourishes  best ;  certain 
social  phases  of  the  age  are  more  or  less  con- 
genial to  its  growth,  and  determine  the  particu- 
lar type  which  it  may  assume.  Infidelity,  in 
these  days,  does  not  denounce  the  Bible  by 
wholesale.  Contrariwise,  it  professes  for  it  a 
great  reverence,  as  Judas  said,  "Hail,  Master! 
and  kissed  him."  Every  form  of  infidelity  now 
quotes  Scripture  in  its  support. 

We  come,  then,  to  name  summarily  a  few 
of  the  principal  elements  that  are  now  in  active 
occupancy  of  the  popular  mind,  and  admirably 
calculated,  if  not  of  necessity,  by  ready  abuse, 
to  foster  the  form  of  infidelity  we  are  deploring. 


36     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

"We  first  name  the  sectarian  polemical  element. 
What  we  mean  is  this :  the  evangelical  Church 
exists  fragmentarily,  and  these  fragments  are 
called  sects  or  denominations ;  naturally  enough, 
then,  do  sectarian  rivalries,  contests  about  doc- 
trines and  dogmas,  arise.  And  now,  let  us  ask, 
and  it  will  be  quite  sufficient  to  ask.  What  is 
the  spirit,  as  a  general  thing,  with  which  these 
contests  are  carried  on?  So  far  from  it  being 
an  occasional  exception,  it  rather  amounts  to 
the  rule,  that  the  religious  controversies  of.  the 
pulpit,  but  more  especially  of  the  press,  are 
carried  on  with  almost  as  much  of  the  spirit  of 
bitterness  and  sarcasm,  though,  we  admit,  with 
much  improvement  of  diction,  as  are  the  battles 
of  party  strife  in  the  political  world.  How 
many  painful  examples  might  here  be  adduced ; 
how  much  is  here  suggested,  that  we  have 
neither  space  nor  desire  to  say ;  how  sickens 
the  heart  imbued  with  that  spirit  of  gentleness, 
meekness,  love,  and  long-suffering,  at  what  we 
have  said.  If  the  spiritual  man  possessed  by 
the  Christian,  manifest  all  tliose  moral  phenom- 
ena in  temper,  words,  etc.,  that  are  manifested 
by  men  who  make  no  pretensions  to  regenera- 
tion, the  former,  at  the  same  time,  contending 
with  "/apostolic  blows  and  knocks,"  that  the 


HINDEKAKCES  TO  REYIYALS.  37 

spiritual  life  is  the  very  antithesis  of  such  phe- 
nomena, what  other  result  have  we  any  reason, 
logically,  to  expect,  than  that  of  breeding  a 
popular  infidelity  to  the  spiritual  verities  of  the 
Gospel  ?  As  a  painful  example  of  denomination- 
al selfishness  and  bigotry,  we  record  here  a  late 
current  fact.  Who  has  not  read  of  the  immor- 
tal Mills  and  Hall  of  Williams  College,  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, consecrating  themselves  to  the  work 
of  foreign  missions,  then  little  thought  of,  by 
daily  meeting  for  prayer  by  the  side  of  a  certain 
haystack  ?  This  fact  has  become  of  sublime  his- 
toric importance.  At  a  late  commencement  of 
Williams  College  it  was  appropriately  resolved 
to  celebrate  this  event  by  a  grand  catholic  mis- 
sionary jubilee. 

The  representatives  of  sister  Churches,  besides 
the  Presbyterian,  were  Dr.  Tyng,  Episcopalian, 
of  New- York ;  Dr.  Wyckoflf,  Dutch  Reformed, 
of  the  same  city,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Briggs,  LL.D.,  a 
Baptist.  These  respective  denominations,  to- 
gether with  representatives  of  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Mis^ons,  all 
faithfully  represented  to  the  numerous  audience 
in  attendance  the  success  of  the  missionary  work 
among  the  heathen.  But — would  the  reader  .be- 
lieve it? — ^no  allusion  whatever  was  made,  during 


88     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  KEYIYALS. 

the  interesting  proceedings,  to  one  of  the  largest 
missionary  denominations  of  all  Christendom. 
Methodism,  taken  in  its  several  sections,  is  the 
banner  missionary  Church  of  the  world.  Of  the 
thirty  or  more  evangelical  foreign  missions, 
six  were  established  by  and  belong  to  leading 
branches  of  the  great  Methodist  family.  About 
one  third  of  all  the  missionaries  in  the  foreign 
fields  are  Methodists.  One  half  of  all  the  Church 
members  gathered  from  heathendom  are  under 
the  care  of  Methodists ;  and  this  noble  work  is 
carried  on  by  Methodism  at  an  expense  of  about 
one  fifth  of  all  the  missionary  means  raised  by 
the  entire  evangelical  Church.  And  yet,  these 
learned  professors  and  doctors,  the  acknowledged 
embodiment  of  American  evangelism,  could  not 
render  honor  to  whom  honor  was  due.  Can 
reading  and  thinking  outsiders  fail  to  observe 
such  conduct?  And  what  effect  will  such  dis- 
coveries have  upon  their  faith?  The  natural 
inference  is,  that  human  regenerated  nature  is 
about  the  same,  after  all,  with  human  nature 
imsubmitted  to  the  process.  Fatal  conclusion! 
and  who  is  responsible  for  it? 

There  was  a  time  w^hen  such  things  were  less 
deleterious  than  now,  though,  probably,  there 
never  was  a  time  when  their  prevalence  was 


HINDERAKCES  TO  REYIYALS. 


39 


more  general.  That  time  was,  when  the  popular 
mind  was  less  logical,  and  more  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  emotional.  Ours  is  an  age  of  popular 
thinking,  because  it  is  an  age  of  such  popular 
reading  as  never  existed  before.  All  men,  now, 
ask  a  reason  for  things,  and  answer  they  will 
tlieir  own  questions,  if  not  answered  for  them. 
How  sad  to  reflect,  that  this  mighty  increase  of 
popular  intelligence  should  thus,  by  the  action 
of  Christians,  be  turned  against  us ! 

We  may  next  mention  the  prevalence  of 
popular  delusions — sciences,  falsely  so  called  ; 
phrenology,  mesmerism,  spiritualism,  etc.,  etc. 
In  many  of  these  delusions  there  is  much  truth, 
though  perverted ;  and  the  more,  the  more  dan- 
gerous ;  not  that  all  ages  have  not  had  their 
delusions,  and  many,  in  the  Christian  Church,  a 
hundredfold  more  numerous  than  the  present, 
but  no  such  means  existed  in  those  days  for  the 
general  diffusion  of  such  delusions.  They  were 
local,  and  therefore  ephemeral,  They  did  not 
take  those  organized  forms,  with  their  organs, 
oracles,  and  their  chief  of  magicians,  as  with  us. 
Simon  Magus  could  not  issue  a  newspaper,  as 
he  can  do  now  5  at  the  s^me  time  that  the  Church 
can  work  no  miracle  to  withstand  his  dirty 
divinations.    There  is,  too,  in  society,  the  work- 


40     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  KEYIYALS. 

ing  of  an  element  most  mischievously  materializ- 
ing in  its  tendencies.  Like  the  postdiluvians  on 
the  beautiful  and  sunny  plains  of  Shinar,  man- 
kind are  ever  prone  to  abuse  God's  greatest  gifts 
to  purposes  of  blasphemy  and  sacrilege.  The 
very  marvel  of  the  daguerreotype,  the  steam- 
ship, the  telegraph,  the  railroad,  and  the  loco- 
motive, from  the  transports  of  wonder  at  which 
mankind  have  not  yet  cooled  down,  has,  doubt- 
less, weakened  the  popular  faith  in  the  old- 
fashioned  order  of  human  restoration  and  ame- 
lioration. Indeed,  it  would  be  a  serious  oversight 
in  our  study  of  the  means  by  which  society  is 
affected,  not  to  look  upon  the  discoveries  of  tlie 
present  half  century  as  affecting  it  most  pro- 
foundly. Mankind  is  not  only  given  to  the 
abuse  of  blessings,  but  is  perpetually  misin- 
terpreting the  purpose  of  their  bestowment. 
Like  the  children  of  Israel,  when  they  were 
without  meat,  they  murmured  from  fear  of 
starvation.  When  the  Lord  converted  the  region 
around  the  camp  nightly  into  a  pigeon  roost,  they 
waxed  fat  and  sensual,  "  ate  and  drank,  and  then 
rose  up  to  play;"  many  nowadays,  expatiating 
on  the  world's  progress,  seem  to  have  had  their 
heads  turned,  and  we  should  scarcely  be  as- 
tonished to  hear  of  their  soon  preachiiig  that 


HINDERAKCES  TO  KEYIVALS. 


41 


men  are  to  be  regenerated  by  electricit3%  and 
"^^v,  go  to  heaven  by  steam.  Nor  are  these  effects 
upon  the  world's  mind  so  surprising,  considering 
the  marvelousness  of  the  cause.  It  was  but  in 
1807,  that  Fulton  launched  the  first  steamboat. 
In  1825  the  first  railroad  was  put  into  operation. 
The  electric  telegraph  was  not  demonstrated  as 
feasible  until  1815.  Hoe's  printing  press  is  but 
an  invention  of  yesterday.  Gas  light  w^as  un- 
known to  the  world  in  1800.  The  beautiful 
discoveries  of  Daguerr6  were  unknown  until 
1839 ;  and  while  discoveries  have  thus  been  going 
on  upon  this  earth,  astronomy  has  been  enlarging 
her  borders  in  the  heavens,  and  planet  after 
planet  has  been  discovered.  The  mind  of  the 
world  has  been  shocked  at  its  own  inventions, 
and  is  intoxicated  with  extravagant  expectations 
of  what  may  be  discovered  in  the  next  half 
century.  Nothing  short  of  a  millennium  with- 
out submitting  to  the  old  and  trite  requisition 
of  entering  in  at  the  "  strait  gate,"  is  expected. 
-  Fatal  and  fanatical  conclusion  !  Depraved  man 
will  attempt  to  walk  by  sparks  of  his  own  kind- 
ling, and  hew  out  to  himself  cisterns  that  will 
hold  no  water. 

By  many  these  are  considered,  without  a 
question,  as  the  effective  agents  of  a  social  mil- 


42      HELPS  TO  THE  PEOMOTION  OF  REVIYALS. 

lennium  near  at  hand.  Sad  and  fatal  mistake  ! 
Just  as  apt  are  they  to  be  the  agents  of  human 
degeneracy  and  sensualism,  if  the  old  "  balm  of 
Gilead"  (the  vital  principle  of  spiritual  life,  that 
connects  the  soul  with  its  Maker)  be  overlooked 
in  the  construction  of  society.  But  still  the 
popular  belief  obtains,  that  men  are  actually  to 
be  made  better  by  steam  and  electricity,  rather 
than  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  Deluded  with  the 
belief  that  society  is  being  constantly  lifted  to 
some  better  state,  as  with  the  lever  of  Archime- 
des, favored  with  the  fulcrum  of  modern  discov- 
ery, the  sinner  fancies  himself  going  up  with  the 
world,  and  feels  willing  to  risk  his  chance. 

The  popular  mind,  too,  must  be  considered  as 
just  passing  a  transition  state;  formerly,  the 
emotional  almost  uniformly  controlled  the  intel- 
lectual ;  now  the  intellectual  controls  the  emo- 
tional. Not  that  the  laws  of  sympathy  have 
changed,  but  the  intellect,  dependent  upon  differ- 
ent laws  and  circumstances  for  its  growth,  has 
been  placed  under  those  circumstances  that  have 
developed  its  power.  Is  ot  that  true  earnestness 
is  any  less  appreciated,  or  less  essential.  ISTot  that 
in  the  storming  of  the  city  of  Mansoul,  (to  use  a 
thought  of  that  incomparable  dreamer  of  Bed- 
ford jail,)  Mr.  Wet-eyes  is  any  less  needed;  but 


HINDERANCES  TO  REVIVALS. 


43 


certain  it  is,  that  we  have  arrived  at  a  period  in 
which,  if  we  are  not  called  to  give  the  sinner  a 
rationale  of  his  conversion,  we  are  called,  in  a  / 
manner  commensurate  with  his  own  intelligence, 
and  the  logical  processes  of  his  own  mind,  to 
give  him  a  reason,  par  excellence,  why  he  should 
be  converted,  and  the  Spirit  or  grace  of  God  be 
the  essential  agent  in  the  work.  The  ordinary 
fervid  and  dogmatic  ministrations  of  our  fore- 
fathers, just  here,  should  not  be  looked  to  wholly 
as  a  model.  We  know  not  but  that  we  may  be 
called  to  fight  the  battle  of  the  Christian  evi- 
dences over  again,  with  reference  to  this  phase 
of  unbelief.  Certain  it  is,  that  men  are  now 
moved  more  by  moving  their  thoughts  than 
moving  their  emotions;  and  the  former  seems 
the  MalakofiF  Tower,  on  which,  first,  to  make  the 
attack ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  Methodist 
preachers  should  have  all  of  the  latter  that  they 
ever  had;  and  God  forbid  they  should  have  less. 
And,  above  all,  may  God  save  us  from  that  en- 
thusiasm that  disdains  the  appropriate  means, 
on  the  one  hand,  and  from  that  self-suflSciency 
which  forgets  that  it  is  "  Not  by  might,  nor  by 
power,  but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord,"  on  the 
other. 


44:     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  BEYIVALS. 


OHAPTEE  Y. 

HINDERANCES  TO  REYIYALS— PLAN  OF  RESIST- 
ANCE PROPOSED. 

GERMAN  RATIONALISM  —  THE  EMIGRATION  OF  ERROR  SPIRITUAL- 
ISM AND  ITS  COGNATES  DIFFERENCE   BETWEEN  THE  ETHICAL 

AND  THE  DOCTRINAL  —  A  DEFECT  IN  THE  PULPIT  —  AN  ILLUS- 
TRATION ILLUSTRATED  CONCLUSION  OF  A  LEGITIMATE  RATION- 
ALISM—  THE   PREACHER    SHOULD  STUDY    NATURE  A  PULPIT 

REFORM  SUGGESTED. 

In  the  last  chapter  we  named,  as  the  most  for- 
midable obstacle  in  the  way  of  revivals,  a  grow- 
ing infidelity  to  the  experimental  verities  of 
Gospel  truth.  The  tendencies  of  the  age  were 
to  materialism  and  rationalism.  These  errors, 
which  have  nearly  ingulfed  the  evangelism  of 
the  Lutheran  Keformation  on  the  European  con- 
tinent, were  insidious,  difi'usive,  and  contagious. 
Like  the  cholera,  they  were  now  on  their  Western 
emigration.  To  do  right  was  to  be  right,  in  the 
tacit  estimation  of  men  generally.  The  great 
truths,  "  Ye  must  be  born  again "  By  grace  ye 
are  saved  through  faith "  He  that  is  born  of 
God  hath  the  witness  in  himself,'^  were  popu- 
larly ignored.    And  as  the  spiritual  life  ap- 


PLAN  OF  EESISTAJSrCE  PKOPOSED.  45 

preached  the  mysterious,  outsiders  were  willing 
to  give  to  "mystics,"  to  " fanaticism,"  to  "gray- 
headed  orthodoxy,  and  superannuated  old  age," 
the  full  monopoly  of  these  things.  The  mysti- 
cism of  many  of  the  unclean  spirits  abroad  in  the 
land,  such  as  clairvoyance,  spirit-rapping,  etc., 
and  the  strange  experiences  of  Judge  Edmonds, 
the  marvelous  and  magniloquent  revelations  of 
A.  J.  Davis,  and  the  mystic  dreams  of  Emanuel 
Swedenborg,  are  secretly  claimed  to  be  all  of  a 
piece  with  the  spiritual  transports  of  the  young 
convert,  and  the  mysterious  transitions  of  mind 
that  he  underwent,  as  he  passed  from  conver- 
sion to  sanctification,  as  described  by  such 
writers  as  Professors  Upham  and  Mahan,  Ma- 
dame Guyon,  Mrs.  Rogers,  and  Mrs.  Phoebe 
Palmer.  The  popular  mind,  we  say,  under  the 
far-reaching  influence  of  this  rationalistic  poison, 
was  coming  to  regard  the  spiritual  verities  of 
Christianity  as  all  of  a  piece  with  those  ludicrous 
marvels,  which,  like  Jonah's  gourd,  come  up  in 
the  dark  and  perish  in  the  light.  How  best  to 
resist  this  tendency  in  the  minds  of  men, 
becomes  the  question  which  our  last  chapter 
suggested,  because  it  is  manifest,  that  if  the 
creed  of  men,  whether  in  the  Church  or  out  of 
it,  consists  in  substituting  mere  Gospel  morality 


46     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

for  Gospel  spirituality^  the  Church  and  tlie 
world  will  soon  become  bankrupt  of  both.  As 
one  step  toward  curing  this  evil,  we  intimated 
that  the  pulpit  might  find  it  necessary  to  dwell 
more  frequently  and  directly  upon  those  experi- 
mental verities,  upon  those  truths  of  the  Gospel 
which  spring  not  from  its  ethics,  but  from  its 
doctrines  ;  and  which  address  not  themselves  to 
man's  mere  intellectual  sense  of  right,  but  to  his 
spiritual  nature.  These  truths  do  not  so  much 
regulate  human  conduct  between  man  and  man, 
as  they  open  an  experimental  intercourse  be- 
tween man  and  his  Maker.  They  involve 
social  intercourse  with  God.  The  other  class  of 
truths  involve  more  directly  our  social  relations 
to  our  fellows. 

The  pulpit,  in  insisting  upon  these  spiritual 
verities  that  meet  the  want  of  our  spiritual 
natures,  is  generally  too  technical,  obsolete, 
given  to  a  trite  sameness  of  expression,  and 
sadly  wanting  in  illustration.  By  being  too  tech- 
nical, we  mean,  that  it  is  wont  to  content  itself 
by  quoting  some  of  the  language  of  the  "  twenty- 
five  articles,"  the  standard  authorities,  and  ap- 
propriate passages  of  Scripture.  This,  after  all, 
we  apprehend,  to  the  popular  mind,  is  neither 
explaining  nor  expounding.    It  is  well  enough, 


PLAN  OF  RESISTANCE  PROPOSED.  4T 

as  far  as  it  goes,  but  it  does  not  go  far  enough. 
It  is  wanting  in  adaptation,  in  that  sense  to  which 
we  give  the  phrase  of  "  up  with  the  times,"  and, 
in  illustration,  in  that  sense  in  which  truth 
should  be  illustrated  by  the  things  of  the  present 
with  which  men's  thoughts  are  familiar. 

Our  Saviour's  parables  illustrate  the  careful 
reference  he  always  had  in  his  teaching  to  the 
principle  just  named.  We  will  attempt  to  il- 
lustrate what  we  mean  by  an  illustration  that 
particularly  interests,  because  it  includes  what 
was  before  in  the  mind  of  the  hearer.  Is  the 
operation  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  for  instance,  upon 
man's  moral  nature,  changing  the  disposition 
thereof,  objected  to,  on  account  of  its  inconceiv- 
ableness  or  profound  mystery?  Let  the  force 
of  the  objection  be  broken  by  an  analogy  from 
the  natural  world.  How  happens  it,  the  speak- 
er may  say,  that  light,  the  most  imponderable 
and  subtle  of  all  substances,  reveals  its  red  in 
the  rose,  its  white  in  the  lily,  its  blue  in  the 
violet,  compounds  itself  into  every  hue  of  beau- 
ty in  the  pride  of  spring,  and  stains  with  vermil- 
ion or  silvery  whiteness  the  clouds  of  the  sky  ? 
Who  can  conceive  of  this  process,  and  yet,  who 
dare  deny  the  facts  ?  And  these  facts  become 
the  more  striking,  when  it  is  remembered  that 


48      HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  EEYIVALS. 

the  virgin  petals  of  the  lily  of  to-day,  were  yes- 
terday but  the  mud  of  the  swamp.  Or,  take 
another  illustration  from  the  wondrous  doings  of 
that  most  incomprehensible  of  physical  agents, 
electricity.  Its  wonders  have  now  become 
familiar  to  the  minds  of  everybody.  And,  that 
it  does  traverse  a  continent,  or  an  ocean,  in  a 
time  too  short  for  measurement;  that  it  per- 
vades with  unimpeded  ease,  huge  masses  of 
iron ;  that  it  drops  through  mountains  of  rock 
with  infinitely  more  ease  than  our  volition  can 
move  us  through  an  open  door,  are  all  facts 
which  a  school-boy,  now,  does  not  think  of  de- 
nying. But  these  are  but  physical  agents,  pro- 
ducing visible  and  wonderful  results.  To  dis- 
card them,  because  the  manner  in  which  it  is 
done  lies  beyond  the  power  of  our  analysis,  or 
comprehension,  would  be  worse  than  stupidity. 
But  if  such  things  are  true  of  natural  agents, 
what  are  we  not  to  expect  of  spiritual  agents  ? 
If  matter  does  thus  operate  upon  matter,  is  it 
unreasonable  to  suppose  that  mind  may  not  so 
operate  upon  mind  as  to  produce  phenomena 
correspondingly  wonderful?  And  who  does  not 
know  that  it  is  but  an  experimental  fact,  that 
even  finite  mind  does  influence  mind  with  a 
transforming  power  often  nearly  analogous  to 


PLAN  OF  RESISTANCE  PROPOSED.  49 

that  which  natural  agents  produce  before  our 
eyes  in  the  opening  bud.  But,  if  we  rise  from 
the  mind  of  man  to  the  mind  of  God,  from  the 
spirit  of  man  to  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  presume 
upon  the  possibility  of  an  intercourse  between 
God  and  man,  what  results  does  it  become  most 
reasonable  for  us  to  look  for?  Why,  that  our 
minds  be  purified,  renewed,  born  again,  trans- 
formed in  their  measure  into  the  Divine  likeness 
— these,  we  say,  are  the  results  which  a  legiti- 
mate rationalism  would  look  for.  Certainly  it  is 
not  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  the  mind  of 
God  and  man  may  be  brought  into  contact, 
w^hen  the  Spirit  of  God,  like  an  all-pervasive 
life,  touches  everything  in  the  vast  universe.  It 
is,  then,  but  sheer  atheism  to  laugh  at  spiritual 
regeneration  as  a  mere  dogma  of  the  Church, 
discarded  by  true  philosophy ;  while  it  is  worse 
than  childish  to  object  to  anything  taught 
in  the  Scriptural  experience  of  the  Christian 
because  of  its  mystery  or  incomprehensibil- 
ity! 

Now,  in  some  such  way  as  the  above,  would 
we  have  the  pulpit  in  its  lessons,  more  immedi- 
ately logical  and  illustrative,  address  the  popu- 
lar mind.    We  would  have  the  pulpit  commune 

no  less  with  the  cross,  but  at  the  same  time 
4 


50     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  KEVIVAXS. 

much  more  with  those  "  all  things  which  were 
made  by  Him"  the  Victim  of  the  cross.  The 
pulpit  should  abound  more  with  illustrations 
fresh  from  the  fountain  of  nature.  The  preach- 
er should  study  nature  only  second  to  revelation. 
The  facts  of  natural  science  should  be  as  famil- 
iar to  him  as  the  facts  of  Bible  history. 

Read  nature :  nature  is  a  friend  to  truth ; 
Nature  is  Christian,  preaches  to  mankind, 
And  bids  dead  matter  aid  us  in  our  creed." 

It  is  not  a  lack  of  Hebrew^,  Greek,  or  Latin,  that 
constitutes  a  scientific  want  of  the  pulpit,  by 
any  means,  but  a  want  of  a  knowledge  of  the 
natural  sciences  does ;  and  in  no  apologetic 
spirit  or  tone,  would  we  have  the  duty  dis- 
charged. That  is,  we  would  not  have  the  pul- 
pit defer,  for  a  moment,  to  that  infidelity  that 
secretly,  if  not  avowedly,  challenges  these  spirit- 
ual verities.  But  we  would  have  it  demon- 
strated that  these  spiritual  verities  are  actually 
the  highest  type  of  a  legitimate  rationalism. 
Such  a  coming  at  the  mind,  we  think,  would 
excite  thought,  and  while  the  word  was 
preached,  it  would  also  be  expounded  in  a 
manner  which  gathered  freshness  from  the  liv- 
ing present.    We  think,  if  we  mistake  not,  that 


PLAN  OF  EESISTAKCE  PROPOSED,  51 

the  pulpit  must  swing  itself  loose  more  from  the 
technical  and  the  obsolete,  in  this  momentous 
department  of  theology.  But,  by  all  means,  let 
it  not  degenerate  into  a  mere  scholarly  exhibi- 
tion of  scientific  facts,  though  important  they 
may  be  in  the  illustration  of  the  holy  record. 
Let  not  preaching  degenerate  into  philosophiz- 
ing, but  let  philosophy  ever  keep  her  place  as  a 
servant.  The  messenger  of  the  pulpit  has  mis- 
taken his  mission  whenever  he  presumes  it  is 
primarily  an  intellectual  one.  Effort  should  be 
made  always  to  move  the  heart,  always  to  stir 
the  affections,  always  to  awaken  deep  emotions 
in  alliance  with  spiritual  truths.  Were  we  on 
a  hymeneal  errand,  on  a  courting  excursion, 
we  would  as  soon  pay  our  addresses  to  Powers's 
statue  of  the  Greek  slave,  as  an  excitant  of 
our  affections,  as  to  go  to  church  and  hear 
nothing  but  a  purely  scientific  and  intellect- 
ual harangue.  Intellect,  of  course,  must  be 
there,  otherwise  the  sermon  is  wanting  in*  in- 
telligence. Science,  of  course,  must  be  there, 
otherwise  we  are  annoyed  with  the  blunders 
of  the  speaker.  But  these  are  but  the  scaffold- 
ing of  the  builder.  There  must  be  life,  the  life 
of  emotion  occasioned  by  the  speaker's  com- 
munion with  God.    The  Holy  Ghost  must  be 


52     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

there,  of  which  the  speaker  is  but  a  medinm  of 
intercourse  between  Heaven  and  his  people: 
"And  my  speech  and  my  preaching  was  not 
with  enticing  words  of  man's  wisdom,  but  in 
demonstration  of  the  Spirit,  and  of  power." 


PREACH  JESUS. 


63 


CHAPTER  VL 

PREACHJESUS. 

THE  CENTRAL   GLORY  OF  THE   UNIVERSE  THE  WORLD'S  GREAT 

"WANT  JESUS    MUST    BE    PREACHED,    OR    THE    PULPIT  WILL 

BECOME  EXTINCT  —  BOSTON  UNITARIANISM  UNION  BETWEEN 

CHRIST  AND  HIS  MINISTERS  ILLUSTRATED  THE  CROSS  IN- 
VESTED   WITH    STUPENDOUS   EVIDENCES  MERITLESSNESS  OP 

man's    RIGHTEOUSNESS  HOW    THE    SINNER  IS  SAVED  THE 

TRUE  PROTESTANT  IDEA  HOW  GOD  DESCENDS  TO  MAN's  CA- 
PACITY THE  INCARNATION  CHRIST  ALWAYS  THE  PREACHER's 

THEME. 

In  our  last,  we  were  touching  upon  the  duty  of 
the  pulpit  in  a  given  ease,  in  the  promotion  of 
revivals.  A  general  hint  was  all  that  we  in- 
dulged in,  and  all  that  we  intended,  ere  we 
passed  to  the  employment  of  measures  by  the 
Church.  We  may  linger  in  the  pulpit  long 
enough  to  insist  upon  a  common,  and  yet  au- 
gustly  momentous  and  precious  topic. 

The  pole-star  of  the  pulpit  is  the  cross.  The 
central  idea  of  the  Bible  is  Jesus.  The  intelli- 
gent soul  of  the  world's  history  is  the  idea  of  the 
world^s  Saviour.  History  would  be  without 
order,  Providence  without  polarity,  but  for  Cal- 
vary.  Redemption  is  the  sweet  influence  of  the 


54     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  EEYIVALS. 

Pleiades,  melting  in  healing  odors  over  the 
wounded,  dying  race,  amid  the  wandering  mu- 
sic of  the  stars  of  the  morning ;  and  which  faith 
only  can  hear,  faith  only  can  see,  and  faith  only 
can  feel.  Redemption  is  the  great  law  of  grav 
itation  in  the  moral  world,  mysteriously  attract- 
ing it  onward  to  its  destiny,  upward  to  its  God. 
Redemption  means  reconciliation  by  virtue  of  a 
reason.  It  is  the  great,  felt  want  of  humanitj". 
"How  shall  we  come  before  God,  and  where- 
withal can  we  bow  ourselves  before  the  high  God, 
and  how  can  man  be  just  with  God  ?"  have  con- 
stituted the  outcry  of  the  crushed  nations,  with 
which  they  have  ever  filled  the  ear  of  the  leaden, 
lazy-footed  ages.  In  the  absence  of  satisfactory 
answers  to  these  questions,  foolish  man  has  at- 
tempted to  invent  answers.  What,  otherwise, 
mean  the  smoking  altars  of  paganism,  the  heca- 
tombs of  victims  at  the  shrine  of  idols  ?  What 
else  mean  those  self-immolations,  self-inflicted 
tortures,  and  long  and  painful  pilgrimages, 
which  the  imperfect  annals  of  man  without  a 
Bible  are  constantly  disclosing  ?  The  fact  is,  a 
consciousness  of  guilt,  a  self-disapproval,  and  a 
sense  of  danger,  are  universal  to  humanity. 
These  dark  shadows  fall  upon  his  soul  every- 
where, (darker  at  certain  seasons  than  others,) 


PREACH  JESUS. 


55 


as  certainly  as  is  his  shadow  cast  from  him  in 
the  sunlight.  Man  is  instinctively  prepared  to 
hear  of  a  Saviour.  His  condition  in  the  world 
is  to  him  as  "The  voice  of  one  crying  in  the 
wilderness,"  saying,  "Where  is  he  of  whom 
Moses  in  the  law  and  the  prophets  did  write  ?" 
The  popular  heart  feels  that  a  sermon  without 
a  Saviour  is  a  solecism.  The  preacher  who 
preaches  most  about  Jesus  and  the  resurrection, 
other  things  being  equal,  will  have  the  largest 
and  most  delighted  audiences.  It  is  a  striking 
fact,  and  yet  one  often  overlooked,  that  God 
himself  has  so  arranged,  that  the  principal  theme 
of  the  pulpit,  when  properly  evolved,  will  al- 
ways be  found  the  most  popular.  Men  never 
complain  of  hearing  too  much  from  the  pulpit 
about  Jesus  Christ.  And  it  is  the  evangelical 
pulpits  of  the  land  which  alone  can  succeed  in 
keeping  up  a  congregation.  Boston  Unitarian- 
ism  is  in  the  yellow  leaf,  and,  but  for  its  wealth 
and  social  powers,  the  sentimentality,  poetry, 
and  learning  of  its  pulpit,  would  to-day  have 
been  numbered  among  the  historic  follies  of 
another  attempt  to  perpetuate  the  public  wor- 
ship of  God  on  earth,  without  insisting,  also, 
that  men  ought  to  worship  at  the  manger  and 
at  the  cross.   The  same  may  be  said  of  Christ- 


56     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REYIYALS. 

ianism,  Arianism,  and  various  other  types  of 
religious  error.  But  even  Unitarianism  is  far 
from  crying  after  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  Cru- 
cify him,  crucify  him !"  away  with  such  a  man 
from  the  earth  !"  If,  in  their  creed,  Jesus  Christ 
be  not  God,  he  is,  nevertheless,  the  most  exalted 
of  creatures — a  God-revealed  model  of  perfect 
humanity.  If  he  did  not  die  to  save  the  sinner, 
he  died  as  the  noblest  of  martyrs,  in  the  defense 
of  the  truth.  Now,  this  error  of  making  the 
Saviour  human,  and  no  more,  and  investing  his 
death  with  the  glories  of  martyrdom,  and  no 
more,  has  not  been  without  its  power.  It  has 
imparted  to  that  pulpit,  at  least,  a  dramatic  effect. 
The  themes  of  that  pulpit  have  thus  not  been 
without  their  principal  hero.  Romance  and 
chivalry,  or  something  analogous  to  these  quali- 
ties, have  lent  to  the  desk  an  attraction.  Let 
even  this  view  of  Christ  be  ignored,  and  the 
pulpit  sink  to  the  mere  defender  of  theism, 
become  deistic,  the  doler-out  of  mere  ethical 
lessons,  sanctioned,  indeed,  by  God,  and  im- 
pressed by  the  motives  of  immortality,  and  how 
soon  would  such  a  sect  of  religionists  become 
extinct! 

The  pulpit,  without  Christ,  becomes  secular- 
ized, sinks  to  the  level  of  common  things.  It 


PREACH  JESUS. 


57 


loses,  in  fact  and  in  the  minds  of  men,  all  its 
unearthly,  its  peculiarity  of  power,  and  only  be- 
comes a  thing  of  preference,  from  mere  accident 
or  factitious  circumstances.  A  Christless  pulpit 
is  as  Eden  would  have  been  without  the  river 
to  "  water  the  garden."  The  life-imparting  in- 
timacy between  Christ  and  his  Church,  between 
Christ  and  his  ministers,  is  radiantly  illustrated 
in  the  first  chapter  of  the  Revelation  of  St.  John : 
"  Clothed  with  a  garment  down  to  the  feet,  and 
girt  about  the  paps  with  a  golden  girdle,  [sym- 
bolic of  his  priestly  office.]  His  head  and  his 
hair  were  white  like  wool,  as  white  as  snow ; 
and  his  eyes  were  as  a  flame  of  fire ;  and  his  feet 
like  unto  fine  brass,  as  if  they  burned  in  a 
furnace;  and  his  voice  as  the  sound  of  many 
waters he  is  represented  as  being  in  the  midst 
of  the  "  seven  golden  candlesticks,"  which  were 
the  seven  Churches  of  Asia,  and  which  were 
selected  as  generic  of  the  Church  in  all  ages. 
The  seven  pastors  were  "  seven  stars,  which  he 
held  in  his  right  hand,  while  out  of  his  mouth 
went  a  sharp,  two-edged  sword,  and  his  counte- 
nance was  as  the  sun  shining  in  his  strength !"  0 
blessed  Jesus !  how  near  thou  art  to  thy  people, 
and  yet  they  see  thee  not !  How  certainly  do 
thy  footfalls  waken  the  echoes  of  the  rudest,  the 


58     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

wild  wood  sanctuary,  or  float  in  sacred  accents 
through  the  aisles  of  the  houses  erected  for  thee, 
and  yet,  how  dull  their  ears  of  hearing !  How 
certainly  dost  thou  lead  thy  embassadors  by  the 
hand,  and  yet,  with  what  timid  and  faltering 
steps  do  they  follow! 

And  now,  brothers,  in  the  inventory  of  good 
things  on  which  we  discourse  weekly  from  the 
pulpit,  let  us  not  forget  to  preach  Jesus.  And 
Jesus  first,  not  subordinately.  A  system  of  the- 
ology, without  Jesus  in  the  center,  would  be  as  a 
system  of  solar  astronomy  that  left  out  the  sun. 
^'I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life."  The 
name  of  Jesus  is  the  revolted  sinner's  password 
on  his  return  to  God.  His  death  is  the  reason 
why  God  can  be  just,  and  yet  the  justifier  of 
every  one  that  believeth  in  his  death.  His 
Divinity,  which  never  died,  but  only  suffered  a 
voluntary  obscuration  of  its  glory,  not  only  im- 
parts to  the  humanity,  in  which  it  saw  fit  to 
temple  itself,  an  awful  sacredness,  and  to  the 
blood  of  that  humanity  an  everywhere-reaching 
efficaciousness,  but  it  furnishes  an  assurance  to 
the  sinner  that  there  could  be  no  mistake  about 
the  offering  up  of  the  great  sin-offering  for  the 
world,  at  Jerusalem,  many  centuries  ago,  about 
the  time  of  the  celebration  of  the  symbol  of  that 


PREACH  JESUS. 


59 


event,  the  Jewish  passover.  That  God  presided 
at  the  cross,  and  at  the  grave,  he  did  more  than 
to  set  his  bow  in  the  heavens,  as  at  the  flood,  to 
prove.  As  then,  he  registered  the  evidence  of 
his  presence  upon  the  pages  of  nature ;  the  sun 
withheld  his  hght,  and  supernatural  darkness 
prevailed ;  earthquakes  rent  the  rocks  and  the 
temple's  vail,  and  the  long-buried  dead  were 
made  to  live  again  after  his  resurrection.  Stu- 
pendous wonders !  And  yet  they  are  but  worthy 
witnesses,  that  God,  in  unerring  wisdom  and 
mercy,  had  "  provided  himself  a  sacrifice."  Yes, 
for  himself,  and  for  man  also.  Henceforth,  the 
sinner  needs  no  further  sacrifice.  Let  all  altars 
but  the  cross  be  leveled  down.  It  is  enough. 
Jesus  hath  "  tasted  death  for  every  man."  The 
sinner  is  saved,  not  because  he  submits  to  pen- 
ance, not  because  he  inflicts  suff*ering  upon 
another,  but  because  Jesus  "  hath  borne  our 
sins  in  his  own  body  on  the  tree."  The  sinner  is 
saved,  not  because  he  repents;  not  because  he 
prays ;  not  because  he  believes ;  not  by  works 
of  righteousness  which  he  hath  done,  for  all  these 
are  but  the  voluntary  acts  of  appropriating  pro- 
vided mercies,  but  because  Christ  died,  "the 
just  for  the  unjust,  to  bring  us  to  God."  In 
repentance  there  can  be  no  merit,  because  this 


60     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIYALS. 

does  no  more  than  dignify  humanity.  In  belief 
there  can  be  no  merit,  because  no  man  ought  to 
be  rewarded  for  believing  that  which  is  true. 
In  doing  right,  there  can  be  no  merit,  for  this  is 
best  for  human  nature  under  all  circumstances. 
Such  voluntary  acts  on  the  sinner's  part,  then, 
which  he  may  be  induced  to  perform  by  the 
teachings  of  the  holy  Gospel,  and  aided  to  per- 
form by  the  Spirit,  which  is  mercifully  given  to 
him  to  enable  him  to  overcome  the  bent  of  his 
nature  toward  evil,  and  to  balance  against  the 
infusion  of  Satanic  influence,  such  voluntary 
acts  on  the  sinner's  part,  we  say,  only  bring  him 
just  where  the  gift  of  eternal  salvation  is.  '^By 
grace  are  ye  saved,  through  faith ;  and  that  not 
of  yourselves;  it  is  the  gift  of  God ;  not  of  works, 
lest  any  man  should  boast."  This  blessed  doc- 
trine of  a  salvation  free  for  all,  and,  consequently, 
can  neither  be  merited  nor  monopolized  by  any, 
is  the  great  central  luminary  in  the  firmament 
of  Protestantism.  No  wonder  that  it  shook  the 
priest-ridden  world  like  an  earthquake,  when, 
from  being  so  long  lost  to  it,  it  was  discovered 
by  Luther,  apparently  accidentally.  It  will  yet 
shake  the  heads  of  pseudo  Churches  from  their 
thrones,  and  popes  from  their  chairs.  It  will 
shake  the  earth,  ay,  and  heaven  too !    It  will 


PREACH  JESUS. 


61 


shake  the  earth  till  it  sift  out  its  errors,  and  then 
make  eternity's  long  aisles  tremulous  to  the  song 
of  its  triumphs,  and  the  far-off  new-born  worlds 
to  clap  their  hands  to  the  greetings  of  the  spread- 
ing music ! 

-  O,  how  blessed  and  self-commendatory  is  this 
truth.  It  exalts  the  king  and  the  beggar  to  the 
same  common  level,  empowering  each  with  the 
privilege  of  settling  his  spiritual  and  immortal 
concerns  with  his  Maker,  without  the  interposi- 
tion of  a  fallible,  and,  it  may  be,  sinister  inter- 
mediate. It  is  the  republicanism  of  Christ's 
spiritual  kingdom.  "  If  the  Son  shall  make  you 
free,  you  shall  be  free  indeed."  And  yet,  para- 
doxical as  it  may  at  first  sound,  man,  in  the  bud- 
dings of  his  first  thinkings  of  salvation,  is 
brought  directly  in  contact  with  his  "fellow," 
his  kindly  sympathetic  fellow,  a  priest,  "who 
can  be  touched  with  the  feelings  of  his  infirmi- 
ties." In  accommodation  to  that  finite  mind 
that  cannot  grasp  or  locate  its  confidence  upon 
a  God  that  is  an  everywhere  present  Spirit, 
much  easier  than  one  perishing  for  want  of 
breath  can  grasp  the  four  winds  in  his  embrace, 
God  embodies  himself  in  the  man  Christ  Jesus, 
and  thus,  as  it  were,  locates  his  presence  where 
local  thoughts  can  come  unto  him ;  and  so  at- 


62      HELPS  TO  THE  PKOMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

tempers  his  glory,  that  we  are  not  intimidated 
in  our  approaches,  and  so  blends  his  love  with 
the  sympathies  of  our  common  humanity,  that, 
while  we  are  found  in  kindred  affinity  with  the 
Son  of  God,  and  in  natural  sympathy  with  his 
suflferings,  and  admiration  for  the  sublime  moral 
beauty  of  his  character,  through  this  door  which 
God  has  thus  opened  in  our  hearts,  he  himself 
enters;  and,  as  thought  expands  and  faith  in- 
creases, the  awakened  sinner,  like  the  convinced 
Thomas,  exclaims  of  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  "  My 
Lord  and  my  God !"  God  was  manifested  in  the 
flesh.  And  one  of  the  blessed  facts  in  the  mys- 
tery of  this  manifestation  is,  that  God  literally 
speaks  to  us  in  the  person  of  our  own  nature ; 
weeps  in  our  presence  such  tears  as  we  weep ; 
touches  us  with  a  hand  of  flesh,  that  he  may  lay 
upon  our  hearts  the  hand  of  the  Spirit.  As  man, 
our  Saviour  is  one  of  us.  As  God,  he  is  one  of 
the  Holy  Three.  To  read  the  holy  Gospel  is  to 
read  the  biography  of  the  Godhead.  God's  will 
is  not  only  here  revealed,  but  his  character  con- 
creted in  sinless  humanity :  and  yet,  that 
humanity  suff'ering  as  a  sinner,  that  believing 
sinners  might  escape  the  damnation  of  hell. 

This  blessed  theme  can  never  be  tame.  It 
imparts  to  pulpit  truth  all  the  naturalism  of 


PEEACH  JESUS. 


63 


heaven,  tlie  eternal  freshness  of  Divinity.  Every 
sermon,  then,  should  be  preached  in  the  shadow 
of  the  cross.  Like  the  incense,  which  burned 
perpetually  before  the  Lord  in  the  sanctuary, 
every  sermon  should  be  odorous  with  the  doc- 
trines of  Jesus.  ISTor  should  we  think  the  theme 
incapable  of  new  modes  of  presentation,  incapa- 
ble of  new  and  striking  illustrations.  Not  only  is 
the  theme,  like  certain  forms  of  life,  incapable 
of  losing  its  interest  by  familiarity,  but  it  is  ca- 
pable of  infinite  development.  It  is  a  fountain 
of  thoughts,  as  exhaustless  as  the  Divine  mind, 
capable  of  being  expressed  by  an  infinite  variety 
of  wordings.  The  whole  Bible  is  as  full  of  the 
Spirit  of  Christ,  in  every  text,  sentence,  proper 
name,  word,  and  syllable,  as  is  the  whole  body 
of  a  living  man  full  of  life.  The  geologist  miglit 
as  well  expect  to  dig  through  some  rock  or  strata, 
and  find  some  spot,  some  object,  in  the  ingre- 
dients of  the  globe,  unpervaded  with  the  laws  of 
gravitation,  as  might  the  Bible  student  expect 
to  find  some  desert  waste  in  its  pages,  unmarked 
by  the  footsteps  of  Him  whose  goings  forth  have 
been  from  everlasting,  and  whose  last  crowning 
act  was  to  come  into  humanity,  and  down  into 
the  world,  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was 
lost. 


64:     HELPS  TO  THE  PEOMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

Brethren  of  the  piilpitj  in  the  promotion  of 
revivals,  intensify  your  sermons  by  refusing 
more  and  more  to  know  anything  among  men 
but  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified.  .  Men  will 
welcome  the  doctrine,  for  man  instinctively  feels 
the  need  of  help  from  a  superior  power,  without 
and  above  him.  All  men  want  to  be  saved, 
and,  therefore,  want  some  one  to  save  them. 
But,  after  all,  the  difficulty  lies,  in  getting  men 
to  receive  the  Saviour  of  the  Gospel,  in  persuad- 
ing men  to  believe  that  this  is  the  only  true 
Saviour,  and  the  only  true  God.  O  Jesus !  hast 
thou  yet  found  faith  on  the  earth  ?  Increase  in 
us,  that  believe  the  power  of  that  grace,  and 
overcome  by  thy  Spirit  the  obstinacy  of  unbelief 
in  others! 


THE  CLASS-MEETING. 


65 


CHAPTEE  VIL 

THE  CLASS-MEETIKa. 

W>RKINO  THE  SOCIAL  AND  SYMPATHETIC  PRINCIPLE  —  MAN  MORE 
SOCIAL    AS   HE   BECOMES   MORE    RELIGIOUS — THE    FOLLY  OP 

ANCHORITISM  THE  CLASS-MEETING  THE  CLASS-MEETING  AS 

THE    MEANS    OF    CONSECRATING    THE     SOCIAL  PRINCIPLE  

CLASS-MEETINGS  SUPPLY  A  NATURAL  AND  SPIRITUAL  WANT  

THEIR  PHILOSOPHY  ILLUSTRATED  —  THE  CONVERSATION  OF  THE 

CLASS-ROOM  THE   RECLAIMING  POWER  OF  CLASS-MEETINGS  

IMPORTANCE  OF  RELIGIOUS  CONVERSATION. 

In  our  last,  we  meagerly  glanced  at  the  prom- 
inence that  should  at  all  times  be  given  by  the 
pulpit  to  the  ever-blessed  doctrine  of  atonement 
Amid  the  vast  variety  of  pulpit  themes,  we 
maintained  that  Christ,  like  the  guiding  banner 
of  a  battling  host,  or  like  the  symbolic  serpent 
amid  the  smitten  camp  of  Israel,  should  have  a 
paramount  prominence. 

In  further  consideration  of  the  obstacles  to  be 
overcome,  in  the  prosecution  of  revivals,  we  pass 
now  from  the  pulpit  to  the  Church ;  and  hav- 
ing, in  former  pages,  spoken  with  some  perti- 
nence of  the  duty  of  personal  religion,  (the  ne- 
cessity of  stated,  incessant,  wrestling,  private 

5 


66     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  EEVIVALS. 

prayer,)  we  come  now  to  ofter  a  thought  or  two 
on  the  duty  of  working  the  symjpathetiG  and 
social  principle. 

''It  is  not  good  for  man  to  be  alone."  Man 
was  never  made  to  act  with  vigor  in  a  condition 
of  isolation.  Man,  individually,  is  not  the  com 
plement  of  humanity.  To  turn  hermit,  for  any 
purpose,  is  to  act  the  madman,  and  stultify  and 
dwarf  all  progress.  The  biggest  of  all  fools 
were  those,  in  the  dark  ages,  who  turned  her- 
mits for  the  kingdom  of  heaven's  sake.  The 
sympathetic  and  social  feelings  are  not  mere 
accidents  of  human  nature;  they  are  cardinal 
and  rational  essentials.  Man  always  becomes 
the  more  social  as  he  becomes  the  more  enlight- 
ened and  refined ;  the  more  social  as  he  becomes 
the  more  like  his  Maker.  True  religion  is  ever 
subordinating  selfishness  to  the  action  of  the 
social  feelings.  This  is  the  Eden  soil  in  which 
the  missionary  tree,  the  leaves  of  which  are  for 
the  healing  of  the  nations,  grows  so  luxuriantly. 
Like  the  patriarch  of  old,  from  being  blessed, 
the  Christian  is  ever  seeking  how  he  may  become 
a  blessing.  "  I  will  bless  thee :  and  thou  shalt 
be  a  blessing." 

But  how,  as  Church  members,  may  we  best 
work  this  principle  for  purposes  of  mutual 


THE  CLASS-MEETING. 


67 


spiritual  invigoration,  edification,  felicitation, 
and  Church  aggression  ?  As  Methodists,  we 
may  appropriately  call  attention  here  to  class- 
meetings.  Not  that  we  would  discuss  the  sub- 
ject of  class-meetings  in  their  conventional  or 
disciplinary  rfelations.  It  is  foreign  to  our  pur- 
pose to  lug  in  the  question  here,  whether 
attendance  upon  class-meetings  should  or  should 
not  be  made  a  test  of  membership,  attendance 
upon  class-meetings  made  disciplinarily  coercive, 
or  left  optional  with  the  communicant.  It  is  the 
principle  which  underlies  class-meetings  that  we 
wish  now  particularly  to  consider.  This  princi- 
ple, emphatically,  is  the  social  principle  ;  and 
class-meeting  is  but  a  provision  for  the  employ- 
ment and  consecration  of  the  social  principle 
for  religious  purposes;  and  that  this  principle 
should  be  so  employed,  we  think  no  one,  upon  a 
moment's  reflection,  can  doubt.  Other  Churches 
may  employ  this  principle  in  modes  the  best 
adapted  to  their  tastes,  prejudices,  or  views 
of  propriety.  We  take  it  for  granted,  that 
the  employment  of  this  principle  in  a  man- 
ner that  answers  the  end  of  our  class-meet- 
ings, is  everywhere  essential  to  the  unity 
of  Christianhood,  the  communion  of  the  saints, 
and  the  vStrength  of  the  Church.    We  have  a 


68     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

mode  of  employing  it  which  seems  to  have  orig- 
inated with  Wesley,  providentially,  and  to  have 
become  so  inaugurated  in  form  in  Methodism, 
as  to  have  answered  the  desired  end  most  hap- 
pily. What  Methodist  who  has  tried  the  ex- 
periment, will  pretend  to  say  that  he  has  never 
been  made  the  recipient  of  great  good  in  the 
class-meeting?  The  provision  in  our  Church 
for  the  weekly  meeting  of  the  class,  is  at  once 
a  confession  of  a  great  confidence  in  the  power 
of  social  unity  as  an  element  of  a  Church's 
strength.  It  is  a  wholesome,  disciplinary  safe- 
guard against  isolation  and  individualism  among 
Church  members,  and  in  matters  of  religion.  It 
happily  provides  for  a  personal  acquaintance 
among  the  membership.  Acquaintance  is  ne- 
cessary to  mutual  interests,  the  first  step  toward 
friendship ;  and  friendship  is  but  the  outer 
court  of  the  holy  temple  of  brotherly  love. 
The  class-meeting  provides  specially  for  religioiis^ 
conversation.  It  extends  this  blessed  privilege 
to  the  humblest.  It  throws  around  the  weak 
and  the  unlearned  (the  inexperienced)  the  pro- 
tection of  privacy,  the  encouragement  of  confi- 
dence, and  secures  to  him  access  to  riper  expe- 
rience and  maturer  wisdom.  The  strong  here 
are  made  to  bear  the  infirmities  of  the  weak, 


THE  CLASS-MEETING. 


69 


until  the  weak  become  strong.  Nor  is  the 
religious  conversation  of  the  class-room  want- 
ing in  specificness.  It  is  sacredly  guarded, 
from  the  very  nature  of  the  institutioUj  the  or- 
ganic law  of  the  Church,  from  being  miscella- 
neous, diffusive,  or  controversial  in  its  character. 
The  leader  is  to  see  each  member  in  his  class 
once  a  week,  to  inquire  how  his  soul  prospers. 
Personal  experience,  then,  is  the  theme  of  con- 
versation in  the  classrrpom.  And  there  is  a 
marked  peculiarity  about  the  conversation  of 
the  class-room.  It  is  not  given  to  human  nature 
for  man  not  to  feel,  first  and  foremost,  the 
highest  possible  interest  in  himself.  This  is 
essential  to  self-preservation.  This  may  exist 
without  selfishness;  and,  in  this  sense,  the 
love  of  self  is  made  the  highest  standard  of 
man's  love  to  another.  "Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself." 

We  have  said,  that  in  the  specificness  and 
character  of  the  sacred  conversation  of  the  class- 
room, there  is  a  peculiarity.  And  we  might 
have  said  (for  this  is  what  we  mean,  and  onr 
meaning  shall  be  illustrated  in  a  moment)  that 
this  peculiarity  is  admirably  adapted  to  the 
awakening  of  social  sympathy,  and  to  the 
working  with  vigor  of  the  social  principle  for 


TO      HELPS  TO  THE  PKOMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

the  promotion  of  religious  ends.  Every  man 
knows  that  nothing  delights  him  more,  or 
awakens  his  emotions  sooner,  than  to  rehearse, 
to  eager  listeners,  chapters  of  his  own  experience. 
Is  it  the  soldier,  who  has  encomitered  death  in  a 
thousand  forms,  and  yet  escaped  it  ?  How  im- 
passionately  eloquent  does  he  grow  over  ac- 
count of  contending  armies  !  How  startlingly 
descriptive  does  he  become  in  portraying  the 
dreadful  scene,  w^hen  the  excitement  of  the  con- 
flict was  over,  and  the  dead  strewed  the  field  for 
miles !  the  dying  pierced  the  air  with  their 
shrieks;  the  desolating  flame  shot  up  into  heaven 
from  vanquished  cities  melting  away  into  smoke; 
the  random  gun  was  heard  in  the  distance,  from 
the  retreating  foe,  as  troops  of  pursuers  hung  on 
their  rear,  while,  anon,  the  wearj'^  drum  beat  the 
death-thinned  ranks  to  quarters,  that  the  living 
might  be  distinguished  from  the  dying,  and 
preparation  be  made  for  that  most  savage  and 
yet  saddest  of  all  hours,  when  a  few  hundred 
powder-blackened  and  blood-besmeared  survivors 
should  be  detailed  to  dig  pits  in  which  to  heap 
the  slain.  How,  we  say,  does  the  old  and  crip- 
pled soldier  become  reanimated,  almost  rejuve- 
nated, as  he  recounts,  for  the  thousandth  time, 
these  dread  scenes  through  which  he  has  passed  ! 


THE  CLASS-MEETING. 


71 


Personal  experience  is  so  near  a  part  of  our- 
selves, that  it  never  becomes  devoid  of  interest. 
The  sailor,  also,  will  grow  impassioned  over  de- 
scriptions of  sea  adventure  and  marine  disaster. 
We  hear  the  roar  of  the  storm  in  his  eloquence  ; 
we  see  the  mountain  billows  lifting  their  crested 
tops  to  the  clouds ;  we  hear  the  creak  of  the 
foundering  vessel,  the  scream  of  the  despairing, 
and  the  crash  of  her  masts.  Our  pioneer 
fathers,  also,  how  love  they  to  recount  the  scenes 
of  other  days,  and  to  live  over  again,  in  magic 
memory,  and  by  the  power  of  retrospect,  that 
life  of  wild  adventure  amid  unshorn  forests, 
trials  and  dangers,  struggles  and  triumphs,  which 
excited  to  eflPort,  and  hastened  the  more  halcy- 
on and  eligible  days  of  the  present.  Like  Israel, 
they  then  dwelt  in  tents ;  but  now,  like  Israel 
in  the  days  of  David  and  Solomon,  they  dwell 
in  ceiled  houses,  and  sit,  each  under  his  own 
vine  and  fig-tree,  no  one  daring  to  molest  or 
make  afraid.  But  these  are  but  secular  expe- 
riences, and  yet  they  delight  with  the  charm 
of  the  drama.  The  heart  is  led  captive  by  their 
power.  It  is  mutually  a  privilege  to  hear  and 
to  relate  them. 

It  is  a  familiar  law  of  our  nature,  that  what 
interests  us  highly,  we  love  to  speak  of  fre- 


72     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

quently,  and  never  fail  to  feel  the  inspiration  of 
the  theme.  In  worldly  matters,  men  never  keep 
silent,  or  secrets,  only  from  sinister  or  mercenary 
motives.  The  emigrant  dwells  incessantly  upon 
the  better  land  in  the  West,  and  elates  in  the 
prospect  of  realizing  improved  fortunes.  The 
successful  speculator,  in  the  veriest  self-defense, 
in  the  indulgence  of  a  feeling  which  it  gives  him 
relief  to  embody  in  words,  waxes  warm  as  he 
recounts  his  success.  Now,  were  no  provision 
made  in  the  Church  for  the  mutual  relation  of 
experience,  a  great  natural  want  would  have 
teen  unprovided  for.  And  it  is  but  a  sad  proof 
of  the  want  of  interest  which  Christians  feel, 
when  they  do  not  delight  both  in  hearing  and 
relating  their  Christian  experience.  Did  they 
but  think  and  feel  more  upon  the  subject  of 
religion,  it  would  be  unnatural  for  them  not  to 
talk  more  about  it.  But  as  to  hear  others  talk 
about  it,  has  a  tendency  to  excite  thought  and 
feeling,  it  can  but  be  regarded  as  a  wnse  pro- 
vision of  the  Church,  that  she  has  instituted  class- 
meetings,  and  those  kindred  associations,  the 
love-feast,  general  class,  etc.  How  often  are 
they  found  quickening  the  lukewarm,  reclaiming 
the  backslider,  opening  the^eyes  of  the  blind  and 
the  mouths  of  the  dumb!    "Who  has  not  often 


THE  CLASS-MEETING. 


73 


resorted  to  them  out  of  respect  for  the  mere  dis- 
cipline of  the  Church,  and  returned  deh'ghted  and 
refreshed?  "Those  that  wait  upon  the  Lord 
shall  renew  their  strength."  The  social  law  in- 
volved in  the  case,  has  operated  like  the  wine 
and  oil  upon  the  victim  of  the  thieves,  between 
Jerusalem  and  Jericho.  The  atmosphere  of  the 
class-room  has  been  to  the  drj  and  deadened 
heart,  as  the  touch  of  the  bones  of  Elisha  upon 
the  dead  man  hastily  obtruded  into  that  proph- 
et's sepulcher.  The  bitter  w^aters  of  discontent, 
disaffection,  surmise,  and  alienation,  have  been 
made  to  feel  a  sweetening  power  like  the  waters 
of  Marah,  in  which  Moses  threw  the  healing 
lotion  prescribed  by  God. 

But  we  digress.  We  were  speaking  of  the 
grand  peculiarity  of  the  conversation  of  the  class- 
room. This  peculiarity  borrows  additional  pow- 
er from  the  consideration  that  the  personal  ex- 
perience to  which  it  is  confined,  is  not  secular, 
but  religious  experience.  What  is  the  ex- 
perience of  the  soldier  or  the  sailor,  the  pioneer 
or  the  emigrant,  to  the  experience  of  the  soldier 
of  the  cross,  the  traveler  from  the  City  of  De- 
struction to  the  Celestial  City,  where  death  is 
swallowed  up  of  victory,  and  the  shining  sisters 
of  immortality  bid  the  weary  pilgrim  welcome, 


74     HELPS  TO  THE  PEOilOTION  OF  RETIYALS. 


and  lie  will  go  no  more  out  forever?  TThat 
fiction  half  so  strange  as  the  truth,  as  portrayed 
in  the  drapery  of  fiction,  in  the  dream  of  the 
victim  of  Bedford  jail?  Bunyan's  Pilgrim's 
Progress  has  been  unequaled  in  its  popularity, 
simply  because  it  is  a  truthful  diorama  of  the 
highest  life  which  a  man  can  lead  on  this  earth, 
the  Christian's  life.  In  the  class-meeting,  the 
brother  freely  discloses  his  struggles  with  the 
world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil.  He  dwells  upon 
those  deeds  of  heroism  performed  by  one  in  his 
efi'orts  to  govern  his  own  spirit.  Greater  is  he 
that  governeth  his  own  spirit,  than  he  that  tak- 
eth  a  city."  Xot  in  the  spirit  of  self-exaltation 
does  he  dwell  upon  his  deeds  of  success,  his 
triumphs  over  humanity's  greatest  foe,  but  gives 
to  the  Author  of  helping  grace,  all  the  glory. 
How  beautiful  to  witness  from  week  to  week,- a 
brother's  growth  in  goodness,  his  progress  in 
holiness.  What  a  thrill  of  congratulation  and 
emulation  do  such  testimonials  impart  to  the 
worshiping  circle.  Xor  is  it  less  useful,  though 
solemnly  sad  to  hear  a  backslider,  or  a  fallen 
brother,  relate  the  process  of  his  departure  from 
God  and  duty,  how,  little  by  little,  first  by  the 
sin  of  omission,  and  then  of  commission,  he  re- 
sumed again  the  road  that  leadeth  to  destruction. 


THE  CLASS-MEETING. 


T5 


Confession  relieves  his  own  monntain-burdened 
heart,  and  inspires  the  brethren  with  confidence 
to  rally  again  about  him  to  his  rescue,  and  to 
welcome  home  again,  like  the  father  of  the  prod- 
igal, him  who  was  lost.  Another  brother  in 
broken  accents,  and  in  unlettered  language  it 
may  be,  may  testify  to  us  of  the  Spirit's  workings 
and  of  the  word's  whisperings,  instinct  with  life 
by  the  Spirit — "my  words  are  spirit  and  life" — in 
a  manner  that  so  perfectly  corresponds  with  our 
own  experience,  that  one  is  made  to  feel  that 
"  in  the  mouth  of  two  or  three  witnesses,  every 
word  shall  be  established."  Faith  burns  with 
increased  brightness,  as  when  the  half-expiring 
lamp  receives  a  fresh  supply  of  oil,  and  distinct 
vision  seems  awfully  and  yet  sweetly  near. 
These,  brethren,  are  the  Mount  Tabor  visions  of 
our  disciplehood,  and,  like  the  disciples  who  re- 
turned from  that  vision,  and  descended  from  that 
mountain  height,  to  encounter  new  and  severer 
trials,  we  are  prepared  by  these  blessings  for 
renewed  conflicts  with  the  flesh  and  the  world. 

It  had  not  been  our  design  to  enter  the 
class-room,  to  reveal  its  family-like  privacies  and 
privileges,  its  blessedness  and  its  glory.  But 
what  we  meant  to  say,  and  will  now  say,  is  this  : 
that  Christians,  in  order  to  arouse  thought  upon 


76     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 


the  subject  of  religion,  in  the  minds  of  sinners, 
must  have  constant  living,  active  thoughts  upon 
the  subject  themselves.  And  if  their  minds  are 
thus  interested,  they  will  seek  to  talh  about  it, 
seek  to  call  into  action  the  great  social  principle 
which  constitutes,  so  far  as  anything  human  can, 
the  power  of  the  class-meeting.  And,  brother, 
if  morally  insensible,  if  mentally  apathetic  and 
dumb  upon  the  subject  of  thy  soul's  salvation,  go 
where  you  can  hear  others  talk  about  it ;  go,  even 
though  your  heart  be  not  free  to  it,  and  their 
conversation  shall  (and  it  seldom  ever  fails  to) 
excite  an  interest  in  you. 

Finally,  as  we  in  our  first  chapter  intimated, 
the  first  obstacle  to  a  revival,  which  a  Church  has 
to  overcome,  is  for  Church  members  to  speak 
oftener  to  one  another,  and  thus  revive  them- 
selves. More  frequent  intercourse  and  converse 
for  religious  purposes  alone,  constitute  a  great 
want  of  the  Church  at  present.  The  almost 
universal  neglect  of  attendance  on  class-meetings 
either  in  their  stated  form,  or  by  the  working 
of  the  principle  that  constitutes  their  power  in 
some  form,  is  the  evil  day  that  has  fallen  upon 
Methodism. 

It  can  scarcely  be  said  of  Methodists  now,  as 
was  said  of  the  godly  in  the  days  of  Malachi: 


THE  CLASS-MEETING. 


77 


"Then  they  that  feared  the  Lord  sjpake  often  one 
to  another,  and  the  Lord  hearkened  and  heard 
it ;  and  a  book  of  remembrance  was  written  be- 
fore him,  for  them  that  feared  the  Lord,  and 
that  thought  upon  his  name."  If,  among  the 
angels,  a  special  secretary  be  now  employed  to 
record  the  religious  conversations  of  Methodists, 
whether  in  or  out  of  class-meetings,  we  fear  that 
his  office  is  almost  reduced  to  a  sinecure. 
Preachers  preach  enough  upon  the  subject  of 
religion,  they  preach  well  enough  upon  the  sub- 
ject, but  neither  preachers  nor  people  converse 
often  enough  upon  the  subject  of  religion,  vital, 
experimental,  and  spiritual  godliness.  May  God 
grant  that  our  people  may  again  gather  around 
the  class-room,  like  the  sons  of  Levi  around 
Moses  at  Mount  Sinai,  when  rebellious  Israel 
wandered  after  the  golden  calf. 


Irs      HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 


CHAPTER  YIIL 

REVIVALS  A  WANT  OF  OUR  NATURE  AND  A  NE- 
CESSITY OF  THE  CHURCH. 

DEFINITION  OP  REVIVALS — ALL  HISTORY  ILLUSTRATES  THEIR  NE- 
CESSITY—  HOW  THE    QUESTION  IS  TO  BE   VIEWED  —  RELIGION 

AND  NATURE   TOO  OFTEN  DIVORCED  THE  CONDITION  OF  THE 

CHURCH  WITHOUT  REVIVALS  THE  MORAL  BEAUTY  OF  A  RE- 
VIVAL MANIFESTATION. 

A  REVIVAL  implies  an  increased  interest  on  the 
subject  of  religion,  the  sanctification  of  souls,  the 
reclaiming  of  backsliders,  and  the  conversion  of 
sinners.  Under  such  circumstances,  religious 
manifestations  and  demonstrations  become  ex- 
traordinary, and  the  Church,  in  seeking  a  name 
for  such  a  state  of  things,  adopted  the  Scriptural 
one  of  revival.  And  it  would  be  quite  easy  to 
show  from  history,  that  from  the  days  of  the  ex- 
odus to  the  "  day  of  Pentecost,"  and  from  thence 
to  Luther  or  Whitefield  and  Wesley,  and  from 
Wesley  to  the  days  of  the  Tennetts  and  Ed- 
wardses  of  New-England  to  this  present,"  that 
such  religious  states  and  religious  social  conditioris 
occurring  frequently,  or  at  longer  intervals,  have 


REVIVALS  A  WANT  OF  OUR  NATURE,  ETC.  79 

been  indispensable  to  the  Church's  spiritual  prog- 
ress, and  apparently  necessary  to  prevent  her 
from  extinction.  "  But,"  says  one,  "  the  Church 
should  seek  to  be  in  a  condition  of  continuous 
revival."  Certainly  she  should.  This  is  but  the 
utterance  of  one  of  those  truisms  which  squints 
toward  an  apathetic  conservatism  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  revivals,  without  removing  any  of  the 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  their  discussion.  It  is 
a  mere  begging  the  question.  The  Church  that 
seeks,  and  seeks  right,  to  be  in  a  continuous  re- 
vival state,  will  generally  be  so ;  not  that  we 
believe,  for  reasons  that  we  shall  offer  presently, 
that  such  Church  would  be  at  all  times  equally 
excited. 

In  discussing  the  merits  of  revivals,  or  the 
measures  to  be  employed  in  their  promotion,  the 
question  is  not  so  much  what  men  ought  to  he^  as 
what  human  nature  is  /  not  so  much  what  the 
Church  ought  to  do,  as  what  the  Church  can  be 
induced  to  do.  The  question  is  one  of  fact  and 
practice,  and  not  of  theory  and  abstraction.  We 
aver,  then,  that  it  is  not  the  law  of  human  nature 
to  be  equally  excited  upon  the  same  subject  at 
all  times,  let  the  subject  be  never  so  momentous. 
Nor  is  it  the  law  of  human  nature  to  be  equally 
easily  moved  by  the  same  subject  at  all  times. 


80      HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

though  all  things  may  be  equal,  as  to  the  mode 
of  appliance. 

We  deem  these  two  propositions  too  obvious 
to  need  extended  illustration.  To  assert  them  is 
to  prove  them.  An  equal  susceptibility  of  ex- 
citement at  all  times,  and  the  continuance  of  an 
equal  measure  of  interest  through  every  day  and 
hour  of  our  being,  upon  the  same  subject, 
would,  in  fact,  neutralize  all  revivals.  Man,  in- 
dividually, or  the  Church  in  the  aggregate, 
would  present  nothing  but  the  manifestation  of 
the  same  unvarying  monotony.  Nature  her- 
self, though  governed  by  laws  most  stubbornly 
uniform,  yet  is  ever  exemplifying  a  great  variety 
and  broad  contrasts  in  the  fulfillment  of  the 
same  great  offices.  Some  summers  are  longer 
and  hotter  than  others;  a  greater  quantity  of 
rain  falls  during  one  season  than  another.  Some 
winters  are  much  colder  than  others.  For 
months,  the  snow  of  winter  may  sometimes 
mantle  the  earth,  when  another  winter  may 
occur  in  which  nature  omits  this  crystal  robe. 
Now  to  ask  why  the  Church  is  not  always  in  a 
state  of  revival,  seems  to  us  much  like  asking 
why  all  summers  are  not  precisely  of  the  same 
length  and  temperature,  and  all  rains  and 
dearths  are  not  of  the  same  continuance. 


REVIVALS  A  WANT  OF  OUR  NATURE,  ETC.  81 

Some  such  religious  phenomena,  then,  as  re- 
vivals, in  the  very  nature  of  things,  are  always 
to  be  looked  for  in  the  Church,  provided  nature 
be  given  fair  play,  and  be  not,  as  it  so  often  has 
been,  unnaturally  taught.  Under  the  pretense 
of  doing  honor  to  religion,  it  has  often  been  sadly 
divorced  from  the  true  philosophy  of  human 
nature.  Man's  spiritual  emotions,  like  any  other 
class  of  his  emotions,  are  subject  to  a  law  similar 
to  that  which  controls  the  waves  and  the  winds. 
They  retire  to  gather  strength  to  come  again  ; 
they  lull,  that  nature  may  enjoy  the  deep  hush 
and  quiet  of  a  calm.  Take  notice,  we  do  not 
maintain  the  necessity  of  backsliding  in  summer 
in  order  to  be  reclaimed  by  an  extra  effort  in 
winter,  which  practically  seems  to  be  an  error 
into  which  some  poor  souls  fall,  who'^are  gov- 
erned disproportionately  by  emotion  and  feel- 
ing, there  being  little  intelligence  and  faith  pres- 
ent. We  repeat,  then,  that  revivals  constitute 
the  invigorating  and  natural  festivals  of  the 
Church.  Like  the  world  without  a  Sabbath, 
and  like  the  family  without  its  holidays,  its 
sweet  remembrances  of  birthdays,  and  matri- 
monial days,  meetings  and  greetings,  which  lift 
the  heart  of  home  afresh  into  third-heaven 

visions,  and  open  the  tear  fountain  as  if  the 
6 


82     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REYIYALS. 

head  were  waters — without  revivals,  we  say,  the 
Church  would  become  an  ice  palace.  Religion 
would  petrify  into  mere  forms,  a  train  of  bur- 
densome or  fantastic  ceremonials;  a  round  of 
mere  notions  in  the  head,  and  even  these  notions 
would  lose  all  their  power  over  thought  and  re- 
flection, and  the  very  w^ords  in  which  they  are 
couched,  whether  Latin  or  English,  it  matters 
not,  would  not  be  understood  by  the  devotee. 
This  state  of  things  finds  its  type  in  Gothic  archi- 
tecture, read  prayers,  rubrics,  the  burning  of 
wax  candles  by  daylight,  and  learned  divines 
quarreling  over  an  ecclesiastical  regalia,  which 
would  enable  them  to  dispute  with  the  clown  his 
place  in  the  "sports  of  the  ring."  Its  hugest 
concrete,  however,  is  found  in  Romanism,  the 
nightmare  of  the  nations  for,  so  many  ages.  We 
would  rather  gaze  upon  the  starting  tear  that 
traced  the  rough  and  bronzed  cheek  of  some 
honest  yeoman,  and  see  in  that  tear  a  prophetic 
ocean  of  eternal  felicity,  in  some  log  school-house, 
in  which  the  spirit  of  revivals  was  abroad  upon 
its  welcome  mission,  than  to  look  for  an  hour 
upon  the  most  magnificent  pageant  that  ever 
issued  from  the  gate  of  St.  Peter's.  "VVe  would 
rather  hear  a  half-suppressed  "  Halleluiah,"  a 
"Bless  God,  O  my  soul,  and  forget  not  all  his 


REVIVALS  A  WANT  OF  OIJK  NATURE,  ETC.  83 

benefits,"  uttered  by  some  aged  mother  in  our 
Israel,  followed  by  the  stifled  groan  and  drooped 
head  of  that  young  man,  for  whom  she  has  so 
long  prayed;  we  would  rather  listen  to  such 
music,  while  the  faithful  preacher  presses  the 
truth  that  Jesus  saves,  and  saves  now,  than  to 
stand  for  an  hour  amid  the  magnificent  aisles 
and  arches  of  the  cathedral  of  the  Bishop  of  Can- 
terbury, and  listen  to  the  deep-toned  organ, 
whose  combined  voices,  almost  like  the  seven 
thunders  of  the  throne,  sweep  in  a  gust  of  mere 
artificial  and  head  music  up  to  that  God  who 
alone  delighteth  in  the  worship  of  the  broken 
and  contrite  hearted.  There  is  food  for  the 
heart  in  revivals.  They  are  as  necessary  to  the 
health  and  purity  of  the  Church,  as  is  congenial 
air  to  the  invalid,  or  salt  and  soap  to  the  health 
and  cleanliness  of  civilization. 

The  proper  management  of  a  revival  forms  no 
small  part  of  that  wisdom  necessary  in  the  win- 
ning of  souls.  The  law  of  our  nature  above 
evolved,  may  remove  some  difliculties,  and  sug- 
gest some  useful  practical  lessons  to  our  brethren. 
Let  them  remember  that  revivals  are  necessities 
of  the  Church,  that  the  state  of  things  under- 
stood by  the  term  is  nothing  more  than  what  we 
may  expect  in  view  of  what  human  nature  is. 


84:      HELPS  10  THE  PROMOTIOISr  OF  KEVIVALS. 

Let  them  remember,  also,  that  the  Spirit  of  God 
never  forces  human  nature  to  the  destruction  of 
its  freedom.  To  wait,  then,  for  the  Spirit  of  God 
to  get  the  people  ready  for  a  revival,  before  we 
ourselves  commence  making  direct  efforts  to 
that  end,  is  preposterous.  And  not  to  make 
special  efforts  in  religious  matters,  in  view  of 
the  fact,  that  man  needs  seasons  of  special  ex- 
citement upon  the  subject  of  religion  as  well  as 
any  other,  is  also  absurd.  But  of  the  "times 
and  the  seasons"  when  these  special  efforts 
should  be  commenced,  it  may  require  all  the 
wise,  prayerful  scrutiny  of  the  pastor  to  determ- 
ine. Tliey  may  be  commenced  very  un- 
timely. Their  omission  at  other  t'mes  may  be 
a  great  misfortune  to  the  Church.  ''He  that 
winneth  souls  is  wise." 


PKOTKACTED  MEETINGS. 


85 


CHAPTER  IX. 

PROTRACTED  MEETINGS. 

THE    ADAPTATION  OF  PROTRACTED    MEETINGS  TO  OUR  WANTS  

ORDINARY   AND    EXTRAORDINARY    MEANS    OP  GRACE  TAKING 

ADVANTAGE   OF  TIMES  AND    SEASONS  PASTORAL  ECONOMY  

OBJECTIONS  ANSWERED. 

If  it  be  true  that  religion  does  not  change  the 
laws  of  our  nature,  (regeneration  being  but  a 
change  of  the  heart,  from  the  unnatural  to  the 
natural — sin  being  a  perversion  of  our  nature,) 
but  conforms  to  them,  as  the  lightning,  that 
strikes  the  tree,  follows  the  grain  of  the  wood  ; 
and  if  it  be  true  that,  in  religious  matters,  the 
interest  and  excitement  of  Christians  are  govern- 
ed to  some  extent,  as  in  other  matters,  and  are 
subject  to  ebbs  and  flows,  to  seasons  of  less  and 
seasons  of  greater  fervor,  as  was  demonstrated 
in  the  last  chapter,  then  must  the  services  of  the 
Church  be  conformed  to  this  state  of  things.  To 
the  ordinary  means  of  grace  must  sometimes  be 
added  the  extraordinary.  Stated  meetings  will 
sometimes  need  to  be  protracted.  Protracted 


86      HELPS  TO  THE  PEOMOTION  OF  EEYIVALS. 


meetings,  then,  have  their  foundations  in  the 
very  nature  of  the  case.  A  protracted  meeting 
differs,  after  all,  from  the  ordinary  means  of 
grace  only  in  this :  it  consists  of  more  frequently 
employing  the  means  of  grace,  of  appointing 
meetings  with  shorter  intervals  between  them. 
It  occurs  to  us,  from  many  considerations,  that 
this  is  a  most  wise  course.  We  may  name  a 
few  of  these  considerations.  The  officiating 
preacher  may  detect  in  his  audience  a  more 
than  ordinary  disposition  to  hear  the  word. 
Secondly,  it  may  be  a  season  of  the  year  of 
comparative  leisure.  Commerce  is  not  hurried, 
navigation  is  closed,  winter  reigns  over  the 
farmer's  fields,  and  he  hibernates  upon  the  su- 
perabundance of  the  last  season ;  or,  it  may  be 
one  of  those  seasons  (rather  rare  seasons  nowa- 
days !)  when  the  public  mind  is  comparatively 
free  from  a  state  of  qui  vive  and  solicitude, 
owing  to  events  at  Washington,  Kanzas,  or  the 
Crimea,  and  to  which  excitement  every  flash  of 
the  telegraph  makes  a  new  contribution.  Or 
the  members  of  the  Church  themselves  may  re- 
quest of  the  pastor  the  privileges  of  such  ex- 
tended services,  and  special  efforts  for  the  good 
of  their  own  souls,  and  to  enable  them  more 
satisfactorily,  and  with  greater  boldness,  to  dis- 


PROTKACTED  MEETINGS.  87 

charge  those  duties  which  they  owe  to  uncon- 
verted children,  kindred,  and  neighbors.  Or 
the  pastor,  fully  awake  to  the  fact  that  a 
season  of  leisure  is  always  a  season  of  levity; 
a  season  of  routs,  soirees^  balls,  frolics,  noctur- 
nal excursions,  etc.,  and  that  such  a  state  of 
things  not  only  needs  extraordinary  effort  as  a 
counteracting  check,  but  that  protracted  meet- 
ings may  tlien  become  necessary  to  keep  Cliris- 
tians  out  of  temptation  and  mischief.  Now,  of 
one  or  all  of  these  circumstances,  the  pastor  may 
desire  to  take  advantage.  Spiritual  economy  in 
a  paster  is  a  mark  of  great  wisdom.  It  is  often 
that  Satan  can  be  checkmated  in  no  other  way. 
To  take  advantage  of  our  delinquency,  or  want 
of  alertness,  is  an  old  trick  of  the  devil.  Pie 
sowed  the  tares  among  the  wheat  "  while  men 
slept."  Wise  is  he  in  winning  souls,  who  suc- 
cessfully employs  similar  tactics.  The  devil  is 
not  omnipresent,  though  human  depravity  is. 
How  far  we  may  practically  calculate  upon  this 
fact  we  do  not  undertake  to  say.  But  we  will 
say,  that  everj^  pastor  who^  Church  is  growing, 
and  not  dying  on  his  hands,  will  detect  occasions 
when  the  necessity  of  employing  extraordinary 
efforts  will  seem  most  clearly  indicated  ;  and  in 
Buch  cases  such  meetings  are  seldom,  if  ever, 


88     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

failures.  A  pastor  should  be  a  careful  reader  of 
the  esprit  de  corps  of  his  Church  and  congrega- 
tion, of  the  moral  physiognomy,  so  to  speak,  of 
the  community  in  which  he  labors.  He  should 
study  it  as  a  patient  in  danger  of  death,  eternal 
death ;  study  it  with  that  careful  scrutiny  with 
which  the  conscientious,  scientijfic,  and  logical 
physician  studies  the  symptoms  of  some  illustri- 
ous patient.  How  carefully  does  he  ponder  over 
the  number  of  pulse-beats  in  a  minute  !  What 
studious  comparisons  and  deductions  does  he 
make  from  the  beating  of  the  heart,  the  color 
and  temperature  of  the  skin,  or  the  reports  of 
the  stethoscope  to  the  ear!  How  carefully  does 
he  watch  the  sun  in  the  heavens,  and  the  ther- 
mometer on  the  wall,  that  he  may  make  proper 
allowance  for  the  influence  of  atmospheric 
changes  upon  the  nervous  system  !  With  equal 
scrutiny,  and  from  more  exalted  motives,  should 
the  pastor  study  the  spiritual  condition  of  his 
flock,  and  look  to  occurring  circumstances  as 
affecting  it  more  or  less  friendly.  Some  neigh- 
borhood calamity;  the  prevalence  of  a  dread 
epidemic  saddening  the  thoughts  of  men,  and 
turning  them  toward  eternity  ;  the  hand  of  God 
in  an  especially-marked  manner,  either  in  judg- 
ment or  mercy,  may  be  taken  advantage  of  by 


PROTRACTED  MEETINGS. 


89" 


the  pastor,  as  indicative  of  the  "  set  time  "  for 
God  to  favor  Zion. 

Nearly  all  the  arguments  against  protracted 
meetings  which  we  ever  heard  or  read,  were 
based  upon  their  abuse.  Such  arguments  are 
often  plausible,  but  seldom  legitimate.  There  is 
no  good  thing  in  the  world  that  men  do  not 
abuse,  and  it  would  seem  that  the  better  the 
thing,  the  more  liable  to  abuse.  Now,  we 
maintain  that  there  are  very  few  good  things,  if 
any,  which  ought  to  be  abandoned  because  sub- 
ject to  abuse;  while,  if  we  should  abandon 
everything  that  was  subject  to  abuse,  we  would 
have  nothing  left.  It  is  objected  to  protracted 
meetings,  that  the  extraordinary  intensification 
of  the  means  of  grace  which  they  imply,  causes 
our  people  to  undervalue  the  ordinary  means  of 
grace.  Such  may  sometimes  be  the  case,  but 
ought  not  to  be,  and  when  so,  it  is  but  another  of 
those  many  instances  so  frequently  occurring,  in 
which  the  pastor  will  find  it  necessary  to  teach 
his  people  the  "  way  of  the  Lord  more  perfectly." 
We  regret  to  mention,  however,  that  but  too 
much  reason  is  often  given  for  this  objection, 
by  the  conduct  of  pastors  and  Christians  them- 
selves. With  them,  practically,  the  ordinary 
means  of  grace  are  attended  to  with  extraordin- 


90     HELPS  TO  THE  PKOMOTIOX  OF  HEYIYALS. 


ary  coldness  and  indifference — their  occurrence 
looked  to  as  a  matter-of-course  thing,  and  the 
duties  they  require  are  to  be  attended  to  as  a 
kind  of  penance  or  trade.  In  the  genuine  spirit 
of  the  meeting,  no  difference  should  be  allow- 
ed to  exist  between  the  ordinary  Sabbath-day 
service,  or  the  weekly  prayer-meeting,  and 
the  meeting  that  may  have  lasted  a  week. 
Christians  should  always  be  in  earnest  in  the 
service  of  God.  And,  dear  brethren  in  the  min- 
istry, this  earnestness  must,  and  will,  always 
take  its  key-note  from  the  pulpit. 

Another  objection  is,  that  the  long-continued 
excitement  consequent  upon  protracted  meet- 
ings, is  wont  to  be  followed  by  a  sad  reaction,  a 
season  of  great  spiritual  languor  and  dullness. 
We  are  persuaded  that  this  objection  is  often 
very  much  magnified.  In  an  experience  of 
twenty  years,  we  have  never  witnessed  the  re- 
sults charged  in  the  objection,  unless  it  be  in 
those  individual  instances  of  persons  being  pe- 
culiarly given  to  an  excess  of  the  emotional,  and 
w^ho  have  been  betrayed  into  excesses  and  ex- 
travagances. Such  persons  are  rather  the  ex- 
emplifications of  the  exceptions  of  the  rule  that 
governs  in  the  case,  than  the  rule.  Such  indi- 
viduals, also,  as  every  one  knows,  possess  an 


PROTRACTED  MEETINGS. 


91 


idiosyncrasy  of  constitution,  and  are  always  ab- 
normal in  the  social  mass.  And,  if  they  drop 
spiritually  dead  soon  after  a  protracted  meeting, 
this  seems  to  be  their  natural  condition,  and,  but 
for  the  protracted  meeting,  they  would  never  be 
spiritually  alive.  We  are  not  at  all  disposed  to 
calculate  the  chances  of  the  salvation  of  such, 
but  we  have  sometimes  thought  that  these 
chances  might  be  much  increased,  should  their 
demise  occur  in  a  protracted  meeting,  camp- 
meeting,  or  some  other  occasion  of  unusual  re- 
ligious excitement.  For,  unless  favored  at  death 
with  this  special  start  toward  the  good  world — • 
unless,  like  Moses,  they  die  upon  the  mountain- 
top,  they  may  never  reach  the  gates  of  the  new 
Jerusalem.  It  may  be  all  to  the  credit  of  pro- 
tracted meetings,  and  their  cognate  meetings, 
that  they,  so  far,  make  provision  for  such  per- 
sons. And  as  to  the  reaction  objected  to,  so  far 
as  it  relates  to  the  Church  generally,  it  may  be 
but  the  necessary  result  of  cause  and  effect,  and 
in  no  wise  an  unhealthy  reaction.  For  w^e 
again  repeat,  that,  taking  our  nature  as  it  is,  w^e 
are  always  to  look  for  ebbs  and  flows,  for  action 
and  reaction.  And  the  reaction,  when  healthy, 
is  as  necessary  as  the  action,  and  both  together 
are  infinitely  preferable  to  that  spiritual  dull- 


4 


92     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  EEVIVALS. 


ness,  lukewarmness,  and  formality,  that  grow 
so  rapidly  in  a  Church,  in  the  absence  of  occa- 
sional, special,  and  protracted  religious  effort, 
and  for  which  such  efforts  seem  the  only 
specific. 


PROTBACTED  MEETINGS. 


93 


CHAPTER  X. 

PROTRACTED  MEETINGS. 

EXTRAViGANT  DEMONSTRATIONS  —  CORRECT  TEACHING  NEEDED  

RELIG:0US  RESPONSES  —  LET  ALL  METHODISTS  SAY  *'  AMEN  ^'  

ALL    CORNERS    SHOULD    BE    "AMEN    CORNERS"  OBJECTIONS 

ANSWERED — THE  INVETERATE  FAULT-FINDER  —  NOTHING  HU- 
MAN PERFECT  APOSTASIES  IN  REVIVALS  —  THEIR  OCCURRENCE 

CONSIDERED  THE    MORAL    STATE    OF    THE    BACKSLIDER  NO 

ONE  EVER  MADE  WORSE  BY  CONVERSION  THE  BACKSLIDER  THE 

FIRST  TO  BE  RE-CONVERTED. 

Protracted  meetings  have  been  objected  to,  be- 
cause many  of  the  worshipers  have  often  lost 
sight  of  religion,  and  religious  decorum  and  order, 
and  been  betrayed  into  extravagances,  both  of 
speech  and  ''bodily  exercise,"  unbecoming  the 
house  of  God.  Our  answer  is,  that,  in  the 
matter  of  spiritual  manifestations,  as  there  is  a 
"  diversity  of  gifts,"  we  would  set  ourself  up  as 
a  judge  of  these  extravagances,  with  very  great 
caution.  Our  judgment  of  order,  in  the  house 
of  God,  under  such  circumstances,  may  be  very 
erroneous.  Nature,  in  numberless  instances,  pre- 
sents to  the  eye  nothing  but  a  scene  of  confusion 
and  havoc,  where  the  most  perfect  order  reigns, 


94:     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION   OF  KEYIYALS. 

and  the  greatest  good  is  to  be  the  result.  We 
will  venture  to  say,  however,  that  extravagances 
have  occurred  at  such  meetings,  that  might 
easily  have  been  prevented  by  the  right  kind  of 
teaching.  Somehow  or  other,  some  have  con- 
founded the  disciplining  of  the  emotions  with 
the  "quenching  of  the  Spirit."  The  pulpit,  at 
times,  has  very  erroneously  taught,  that  when 
the  Christian's  spiritual  emotions  are  struggling 
for  vent  or  expression,  it  is  never,  safe  not  to 
cry  out  or  shout,  whatever  the  surrounding  cir- 
cumstances may  be,  lest,  by  so  doing,  the  Spirit 
be  grieved.  Now,  weak  and  nervous  persons, 
taking  the  advantage  of  such  a  sentiment,  have 
been  often  found  annoying  fellow-worshrpers, 
and  seriously  interfering  with  the  edification  of 
the  meeting,  by  the  untimeliness  and  obtrusive- 
ness  of  their  demonstrations  of  joy.  The  brother 
or  sister  that  must  needs  shout  aloud  for  an  hour, 
and  that  hour  the  hour  of  preaching,  and  who 
has  been  indulged  in  doing  so  under  the  preten- 
sion that  it  was  eminently  his  or  her  duty  to  do 
so,  and  that  neither  could  help  it,  is  simply  to  be 
pitied  more  than  to  be  blamed.  That  such  can 
help  it,  every  reflecting  person  has  come  to  be- 
lieve. That  they  .think  they  cannot  or  dare  not 
help  it,  no  one  for  a  moment  doubts.    But  this 


PROTRACTED  MEETINGS. 


95 


is  the  result  either  of  erroneous  teaching,  or  of 
the  absence  of  all  teaching  upon  the  subject. 
Let  us  be  understood.  We  doubt  not  for  a  mo- 
ment that  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  may, 
sometimes,  prompt  involuntarily  to  a  momentary 
shout,  and  when  of  this  type,  w^e  love  to  hear  it 
at  any  time.  But  the  idea  that  it  will  urge  in- 
voluntarily to  a  continuous  squall  for  half  an 
hour,  is  simply  ridiculous.  We  are  not  "  opposed 
to  shouting  "  at  religious  meetings,  but  we  are 
opposed  to  unnatural  and  fanatical  shouting. 
And  as  to  the  hearty  "  Amen,"  (the  frequent 
religious  response,)  when  these  manifestations 
of  warmth  and  earnestness  shall  have  ceased  in 
the  M.  E.  Church,  then  will  her  pure  gold  have 
become  very  dim,  and  her  glory,  if  not  depart- 
ed, be  departing.  We  regard  such  responses  as  a 
duty,  and  as  necessary  to  keep  up  the  proper 
sympathy  between  the  pulpit  and  the  people. 
They  bespeak  the  earnest,  social,  and  simultane- 
ous character  of  our  worship.  They  reveal  our 
Protestantism.  They  show  that  the  congrega- 
tion has  no  faith  in  that  worship  in  which  the 
people's  business  with  their  Maker  is  "  done  up" 
by  priests  and  proxies.  They  have  been  regard- 
ed thus  by  the  Church  in  all  ages,  and  even  the 
prayer-book  of  the  self-styled,  t/ie  Church,  true 


96     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

to  this  fact  of  history,  provides  for  these  respon- 
ses. Let  all  Methodists,  thenj  say  ''Amen"  in 
the  great  congregation.  Give  us  the  people  to 
preach  to,  who  convert  all  corners  of  their 
church  into  "Amen  corners,"  and  who  both 
live^  as  well  as  respond  or  shout  "  Amen."  As 
for  the  preacher  whom  a  good  hearty  "  Glory  to 
God,"  or  other  devotional  ejaculation,  throws 
entirely  off  his  equilibrium,  we  hope  that  if 
such  be  a  Methodist  preacher,  the  brethren  will 
shout  him  out  of  the  pulpit,  and  clear  back  to 
Jericho,  where  he  may  tarrj^  until  his  beard  be 
grown,  and  he  endowed  with  "  power  from  on 
high."  As  to  the  extravagances  mentioned, 
then,  they  have,  indeed,  been  the  abuse  of  a 
good  thing  among  us,  which  will  yield  at  once 
to  intelligent  instruction.  And  even  these  ex 
travagances  have,  as  yet,  done  so  little  harm, 
in  proportion  to  the  immense  good  that  has  been 
the  result  of  our  revival  demonstrations,  that 
they  constitute  but  a  very  feeble  objection  to 
them.  Imperfection,  more  or  less,  enters  into 
all  our  plans,  and  their  execution.  It  is  not 
given  to  man  to  secure  to  himself,  in  this  world, 
an  unmixed  good.  "If  I  say  I  am  perfect, 
it  shall  prove  me  perverse."  God  may  perfect 
his  gracious  work  in  us,  and  this  is  spiritual 


PBOTRACrrED  MEETrnGS. 


97 


perfection,  often  (but  with  very  doubtful  propri- 
ety) called  Christian  perfection.  And  the  Chris- 
tian in  whom  God's  work  is  thus  perfected  is, 
nevertheless,  not  infallible;  and  while  it  is  not 
erroneous  to  apply  the  epithet,  sinless,  to  his 
actions,  it  is  erroneous  to  claim  that  anything  he 
does  is  personally  perfect.  And  he  whose  trans- 
cendental notions  of  Christian  character  and 
Church  order  are  always  finding  the  preacher 
falling  a  little  below  what  he  ought  to  be, 
always  finding  fault  with  things  in  the  Church 
as  not  being  exactly  right,  is  certainly  unfitted 
for  the  next  world,  and  but  very  poorly  fitted  to 
do  good  in  this.  The  seeker  of  perfection,  in 
matters  of  human  judgment  in  this  world,  like 
the  evil  spirit  in  the  Gospel,  when  cast  out, 
will  always  be  found  wandering  in  desert 
places,  seeking  rest  and  finding  none.  We  never 
expect  to  attend  a  meeting  of  any  kind,  in 
which  everj'thing  that  occurs  will  please  us; 
and,  indeed,  we  go  to  Church  partly  on  that 
account  For  the  strong  should  always  be 
present  to  bear  the  infirmities  of  the  weak, 
while  the  weak  should  be  where  the  strong  are, 
that  they  may  acquire  strength.  What,  then,  are 
these  extravagant  demonstrations  but  another 

manifestation  of  human  imperfection  ?  And  when 

7 


98     HELPS  TO  THE  ifROMOTION  OF  KEVIYALS. 

anything  in  which  human  agency  is  employed 
shall  be  free  from  manifestations  of  imperfec- 
tion, some  reason  will  then  exist  for  claiming 
that  revivals  should  be  free  from  them. 

Another  objection  to  protracted  meetings  is, 
and  it  is  the  last  we  will  mention,  that  they  are 
apt  to  be  followed  by  apostasy  on  the  part  of  a 
large  majority  of  the  converts.  Well,  apostasies 
happen  in  the  Church  at  all  times,  whether  the 
subjects  were  converted  on  these  special,  or  other 
occasions.  It  is  rather  a  difficult  question  to  de- 
termine w^hether  the  converts  of  a  protracted 
meeting  are  more  apt  to  backslide  than  those  of 
other  occasions,  as  by  far  the  greater  number  of 
conversions  occur  in  protracted  meetings,  and 
kindred  efforts.  Apostasies  cannot  occur  where 
there  are  no  converts  to  backslide.  And  as  to 
the  number  of  backsliders  following  in  the  train 
of  a  protracted  meeting,  it  is  often  exaggerated. 
Instances  where  apostasies  have  been  very  nu- 
merous, certainly  have  occurred.  But,  as  an 
offset  against  this,  it  may  be  urged,  that,  on  other 
occasions,  persons  brought  out  in  religion  by 
these  protracted  efforts,  have  almost  unanimously 
stood  firm. 

In  the  great  revivals  in  which  the  Calvinistic 
Churches  of  New-England  shared  so  largely,  it 


PROTRACTED  MEETINGS. 


99 


has  been  subsequently  shown  that  apostasies 
were  most  encouragingly  rare.  The  subject  of 
their  results  has  been  examined  with  much 
care. 

In  1829,  a  letter  was  addressed  to  the  Congre- 
gational ministers  of  Connecticut,  proposing, 
among  others,  the  following  inquiries:  First. 
What  was  the  whole  number  of  professors  of 
religion  in  your  Church  at  the  commencement 
of  the  year  1820?  Second.  What  number  were 
added  to  your  Church  by  profession  during  the 
years  1820— i?  Third.  Of  those  who  are  now 
members  of  your  Church,  what  proportion  may 
be  considered  as  the  fruits  of  a  revival,  and  what 
is  their  comparative  standing  for  piety,  and  ac- 
tive benevolent  enterprise?  Dn  Hawes,  of  Hart- 
ford, writing  under  date  March  12th,  1832,  says: 
"  I  am  able  to  state  that  the  answers  were  in  a  high 
degree  satisfactory."  It  appeared  that  a  very 
large  proportion  of  all  who  are  now  members  of 
the  Congregational  Churches  in  this  state,  became 
such  in  consequence  of  revivals ;  that  the  rela- 
tive proportion  of  such,  as  revivals  have  been 
multiplying,  has  been  continually  increasing; 
that  the  most  active  and  devoted  Christians  are 
among  those  who  came  into  the  Church  as  fruits 
of  revivals;  tliat  those  Churches  in  which  re- 


100  HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

vivals  have  been  most  frequent  and  powerful, 
are  the  most  numerous  and  flourishing;  and 
that  in  all  the  Churches  thus  visited  with  Divine 
influence,  there  has  been  a  great  increase  of 
Christian  enterprise  and  benevolent  action. 
Bishop  M'llvaine,  under  date  April  6th,  1832, 
writes :  "  I  owe  too  much  of  what  I  hope  for  as 
a  Christian,  and  what  I  have  been  blessed  with 
as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  not  to  think  most 
highly  of  the  eminent  importance  of  promoting 
this  spirit,  and  consequently  guarding  it  against 
all  abuses.  Whatever  I  possess  of  religion,  be- 
gan in  a  revival.  The  most  precious,  steadfast, 
and  vigorous  fruits  of  my  ministry,  have  been 
fruits  of  revivals.  I  believe  that  the  spirit  of 
revivals,  in  the  true  sense,  was  the  simple  spirit 
of  the  religion  of  apostolic  times;  and  will  be 
more  and  more  the  characteristic  of  those  as 
the  day  of  the  Lord  draws  near." — Sjprague  on 
Mevivals, 

Again,  who  are  these  backsliders  ?  It  is  said 
that  God  is  married  to  them.  We  hold  not  that 
conversion  implants  an  undying  germ  of  grace, 
however  much  we  may  apostatize.  But  we  do 
hold  to  the  doctrine  that  there  is  a  very  high  and 
mysterious  relation  between  the  backslider  and 
his  God.    The  impressions  made  in  genuine  con- 


\ 

PEOTRACTED  MEETINGS.  101 

version,  may  be  covered  up  by  subsequent  apos- 
tasies. Their  possessor  may  deny  their  existence, 
but  still  they  are  there,  with  a  kind  of  living 
power,  like  the  handwriting  on  the  w^all,  that  so 
troubled  the  luxurious  monarch.  The  spiritual 
affections  having  been  once  warmed  into  life, 
the  memory  thereof  lingers,  and  will  obtrude 
itself,  in  hours  of  silence  and  of  though tfulness, 
upon  the  conscience,  like  those  memories  of 
home  that  haunted  the  swine-feeding  and  starv- 
ing prodigal.  Does  death  threaten  ?  The  back- 
slider will  soon  give  evidence  that  he  under- 
stands the  alphabet  of  Christianity.  Men  are 
never  worse  for  having  been  once  converted, 
and  their  restoration  to  the  favor  of  God,  after 
all,  is  generally  more  easily  effected,  from  the 
fact  that  they  once  tasted  that  Jesus  was  pre^ 
cious. 

In  all  genuine  revivals,  the  backsliders  are 
among  the  first  to  be  converted.  Away,  then, 
with  the  objection,  that  we  are  to  be  hindered 
from  employing  those  means  of  grace  which  so 
often  result  in  the  conversion  of  many,  because, 
of  this  many,  some  backslide. 

We  repeat,  then,  that  protracted  meetings  con- 
stitute a  requirement  of  the  Church,  but  that  we 
should  not  exalt  them  to  the  depreciation  of  the 


102  HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

stated  means ;  that  their  abuses  can  and  ought  to 
be  corrected;  that  they  constitute  the  only  spe- 
cific against  the  Church's  relapse  into  formalism  ; 
that  those  who  object  to  them,  make  up  their  ob- 
jections of  their  abuses  ;  and  that  those  who  do 
not  employ  them,  substitute  nothing  better,  and 
seldom  succeed  in  securing  the  conversion  of  sin- 
ners as  well  as  those  who  do.  Protracted  meet- 
ings should  be  the  outgrowth,  generally,  of  that 
w^ell-instructed  condition  of  the  Church,  brought 
about  by  the  faithful  labors  of  the  pastor.  The 
ordinary  means  of  grace  should  seem,  of  them- 
selves, to  push  themselves  out  into  the  extraor- 
dinary. Protracted  meetings  are  a  natural 
growth  of  the  Church,  and  not  a  graft  upon  the 
original  tree. 


NECESSITY  OF  AGGKESSIVK  ENTERPRISE.  103 


CHAPTER  XL 

NECESSITY  OF  AGGRESSIVE  ENTERPRISE. 

A  RARE  BUT  INSIDIOUS  EVIL  EXPOSED  THE  FEARFUL  PREACHER 

 HIS  FEARS  FOUNDED  IN  A  FALSE  PHILOSOPHY  A  STUNTED 

CHURCH  INSTRUCT  THE  PEOPLE  IN  THE  AGGRESSIVE  MOVE- 
MENTS    OF    THE    CHURCH  —  THEY     ONLY    GROW   STRONG  BY 

BEARING  BURDENS  THE  "QUARTER  OF  A  DOLLAR*'  TYPE  OF 

METHODISM  SPIRITUAL  BABIES  AT  FORTY  —  PLANS  AND  PUR- 
POSES SHOULD  BE  LARGE  —  REASONS  WHY  THE  WEST  HAS 
BEEN  PARTICULARLY  FAVORED  WITH  REVIVALS — THE  PREACHER 

WHO    WILL    BE    BLESSED    WITH     THEM  A    WORKING  LAITY 

DETERMINES  A  CHURCH'S  PROSPERITY  —  DANGEE  OP  MEXHOIh 
ISM  BEING  OUTSTRIPPED  BY  SISTER  SECTS. 

''Bring  ye  all  the  tithes  into  the  storehouse,  that 
there  may  be  meat  in  mine  house,  and  prove 
me  now  herewith,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  if  I 
will  not  open  you  the  windows  of  heaven,  and 
pour  you  out  a  blessing,  that  there  shall  not  be 
room  enough  to  receive  it."  "  The  liberal  soul 
shall  be  made  fat :  and  he  that  watereth  shall 
be  watered  also  himself."  "  The  diligent  hand 
maketli  rich."  "  But  this  I  say,  Lie  which  sow- 
eth  sparingly,  shall  reap  also  sparingly ;  and  he 
which  soweth  bountifully,  shall  reap  also  bounti- 
fully.   Every  man  according  as  he  hath  pur- 


104  HELPS  TO  THE  PKOMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

posed  in  his  heart,  so  let  him  give  ;  not  grudg- 
ingly, or  of  necessity ;  for  God  loveth  a  cheerful 
giver.  And  God  is  able  to  make  all  grace 
abound  toward  you." 

The  pertinence  of  the  above  passages  of 
Scripture  to  our  present  purpose  will  appear 
presently.  We  wish  to  expose  a  great  error  which, 
though  not  everywhere  prevalent,  yet  is  it  too 
prevalent  if  found  in  one  case  in  fifty.  It  is  an 
insidious  error,  which  may  exist  in  cases  suffi- 
ciently extreme  to  excite  attention  but  rarely; 
and  yet,  like  unseen  miasma,  this  error  may 
work  a  wider  mischief  than  we  suppose.  What 
we  mean  is  this :  Naturally  enough,  and  relig- 
iously enough,  one  of  the  first  objects  of  concern 
with  a  Methodist  preacher  is,  how  he  may  best 
secure  the  raising  of  his  "  claim,"  which,  frorri 
its  smallness,  is  every  cent  needed  by  himself 
or  family,  to  whom  he  first  and  foremost  owes 
duty.  On  his  arrival,  therefore,  upon  his  circuit 
or  station  he  reconnoiters  at  once  the  ability  of 
his  people  to  support  him,  and  enters  into  con- 
siderations as  to  their  probable  liberality.  The 
conclusion  is,  that  if  his  people  are  not  pressed 
#  hard  for  other  pecuniary  objects,  they  are  fully 
able  to,  and  most  certainly  will,  "meet  his 
claim."    True,  a  parsonage  should  be  built,  or 


KECESSrrY  OF  AGGRESSIVE  EOTERPEISE.  105 


the  old  one  repaired  ;  the  Church  should  be 
renovated,  or  a  new  one  built ;  the  library  of 
the  Sabbath  school  should  be  enlarged  and  re- 
plenished ;  a  box  of  books  should  be  sent  for, 
and  the  people  urged  to  buy ;  every  family 
should  be  visited,  and  urged  to  take  some  one  or 
two  of  our  periodicals ;  and  then  there  is  the 
presiding  elder's  claim  ;  and  besides  incidental 
expenses,  applications  for  collections  for  some 
itinerant  object  of  benevolence,  there  are  the 
stated  collections :  collections  for  missions,  the 
Bible  cause,  Sunday-School  Union,  Tract  cause, 
Fifth  Collection,  collection  for  expenses  of  dele- 
gates, etc.  Now  our  fearful  brother  runs  over 
this  long  list,  and  with  a  most  lugubrious  sigh 
and  look  resolves  honestly,  out  of  self-protection, 
t5  give  just  as  many  of  them  the  go-by"  as  he 
can.  His  philosophy  is,  that  the  less  frequently 
people  are  called  upon  to  give,  and  the  less  they 
are  required  to  give,  the  easier  will  it  be  to  raise 
that  little.  A  more  erroneous  sentiment  could 
scarcely  be  entertained.  It  is  untrue  to  the  laws 
of  our  mental  and  moral  nature ;  contradicted 
by  every  day's  experience,  and  exposed  and  con- 
demned by  the  Scriptures.  The  sentiment,  also, 
is  incalculably  deleterious  in  its  effects  upon  the 
preacher.    It  generates  fearfulness  and  selfish- 


106    HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

ness.  The  former  is  weakness,  and  the  latter  is 
apt  to  manifest  itself  in  croaking  and  censori- 
ousness.  For  the  preacher  who  trembles  at  this 
large  competition,  is  almost  sure  to  find  his  own 
pay  coming  in  tardily,  grudgingly,  and  stinted- 
ly.  Under  such  a  pastor  the  Church  feels  that 
its  liberality  has  put  on  a  Chinese  shoe.  It 
moves  slowly  and  sluggishly,  for  the  want  of  the 
inspiration  of  an  example  of  an  aggressive  enter- 
prise in  its  pastor.  If  periodicals  are  subscribed 
for,  the  brethren  make  application  to  their  pas- 
tor, and  not  their  pastor  to  them.  The  Disci- 
plinary collections  are  taken  up,  unaccompanied 
by  any  very  explicit  explanation,  or  urgent  so- 
licitation from  the  pulpit.  If  the  work  of 
church  repairing  or  church  building  goes  on,  it 
originates  with  the  laity,  by  seeming  suflferance 
of  the  pastor ;  or,  what  is  most  commonly  the 
case,  is  only. talked  of  by  the  brethren  during  the 
term  of  service  of  such  a  preacher.  Who  does 
not  know  that  in  aU  these  matters  the  pastor 
must  not  say,  "  Go  on,"  but  "  Come  on  f  Rarely 
is  it  that  a  revival  breaks  out  under  such  a  cleri- 
cal administration,  and  for  the  reasons  intimated 
in  the  above  scriptures.  Like  Mount  Ebal,  such 
a  charge  is  wont  to  be  mantled  with  barren- 
ness. 


NECESSITY  OF  AGGRESSIVE  ENTERPRISE.  lOT 

Who  are  the  ministers  most  liberally  supported 
among  us  ?  Are  they  the  disciples  of  this  school 
of  the  philosophy  of  benevolence  ?  The  results 
of  even  a  casual  observation  will  always  furnish 
but  one  answer  to  these  questions-  Twenty- 
three  years'  scrutiny  in  this  direction,  has  fixed 
this  conviction  in  our  mind,  that  the  preacher 
who  is  most  apprehensive  about  his  support,  has 
tlie  greatest  reason  to  be;  and  that  the  man 
w^ho  neglects  to  draw  out  the  liberality  of  the 
Church  for  other  objects  besides  that  of  himself, 
will  not  fare  half  so  well  as  the  brother  who 
pursues  a  widely  different  course.  Indeed, 
there  is  no  department  of  truth  so  admirably  cal- 
culated to  stimulate  a  Church  to  look  well  after 
its  pastor,  and  build  up  its  home  interests,  as  a 
thorough  indoctrination  into  oar  various  systems 
of  benevolent  and  aggressive  enterprise.  A 
people  ignorant  of  our  current  literature,  desti- 
tute of  our  periodicals,  with  very  little  of  the 
missionary  spirit,  is  expected  to  take  liberal 
views  in  supporting  the  preacher  who  is  sent  to 
them  !  How  hugely  absurd !  It  would  be  quite 
easy  now  to  point  to  districts  in  our  Zion,  where 
the  fathers  and  the  mothers — good,  pious  souls — • 
seem  not  to  have  the  slightest  idea  that  it  is  any- 
thing less  than  heresy  to  teach  that  "  quarter- 


108     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  EEYIVALS. 


asre"  does  not  mean  a  quarter  of  a  dollar,  paid 
once  in  three  months  ;  and  that  by  a  free  Gos- 
pel is  meant  that  God  would  convert  the  world 
without  the  money  of  the  Church  ;  the  gold  and 
silver  belonging  to  the  members  being  no  longer 
his  :  that  Christians  were  proprietors  of  their 
possessions,  and  not  sUicards.  Thirty-iive  or 
forty  years  ago,  they  paid  the  preacher  tiiis  by 
a  hard  effort,  and  divided  witli  him  their  pot  of 
hominy,  and  it  was  all  that  was  required.  Since 
that  time,  their  broad  alluvial  acres  have 
become  worth  thousands  upon  thousands,  and 
their  bams  burst  out  with  the  pressure  of  their 
contents.  They  have,  indeed,  kept  their  faith, 
amid  this  elevation  from  poverty  to  prosperity. 
But,  if  they  hare  gi'own  in  gi'ace,  they  have  not 
grown  in  knowledge.  Their  conservatism  is 
that  of  ignorance  and  bigotry.  We  do  not  say 
that  they  are  not  Christians,  but  we  do  say  that 
they  are  just  such  Cln-istians  as  the  erroneous 
pastoral  policy  we  are  exposing  is  well  calcu- 
lated to  produce.  TTith  all  their  loud  shoutings 
at  camp-meetings,  they  are  dwarfs  in  the  Church 
of  God,  and  will  be  monsters  of  minuteness 
among  the  angels  of  heaven.  Tney  spent  their 
childhood  where  tlie  schoolmaster  was  not 
abroad,  and  commenced  their  Christian  career 


NECESSITY  OF  AGGRESSIVE  ENTERPRISE.  109 

without  reading.  They  have  continued  it  with- 
out reading.  The  Church  of  which  they  are 
members,  is  to  them  as  much  of  a  terra  incog- 
nita^  as  is  the  empire  of  Russia  to  one  of  its 
serfs.  Their  souls  never  felt  the  expansive 
sympathy  of  our  great  organized  functions,  for 
the  purpose  of  "  spreading  Scriptural  holiness 
over  these  lands."  They  might,  did  they  but 
know  it,  (and  the  act  would  be  a  mighty  blessing 
to  them,)  give  their  thousands  and  tens  of  thou- 
sands for  the  endowment  of  colleges,  replenishing 
of  our  exhausted  missionary  treasury,  or  the 
spread  of  religious  literature.  But,  to  solicit  of 
such  brethren  what  it  is  no  more  than  simple 
duty  for  them  to  do,  actually  discourages,  if  it 
does  not  disgust  and  alienate  them.  It  is  like 
teaching  dogmatically  the  profoundest  truths 
of  our  theology  to  an  infant  class  in  Sabbath 
school.  Now,  such  a  crop  of  Christians  as 
these,  are  sustained  and  nursed  up  for  heaven 
by  the  Church.  Yes,  nursed ;  for  they  will  be 
children  all  their  lives,  spiritual  babies  of  forty 
or  fifty  years  of  age.  They  are  sustained  by  the 
Church  ;  they  do  not  sustain  it.  We  rejoice  to 
think  they  may  be  scarceh/^^  saved,  but  we  do 
not  believe  in  sowing  for  such  a  crop.  In  the 
former  period  of  our  history  they  formed  a  good 


110    HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

army  of  occupation.  In  making  additions  to 
our  conquered  territory,  we  find  them  of  little 
avail.  The  time  has  come  in  our  own  history 
when  efforts  for  the  world's  conversion  must  be 
made  on  a  larger  scale.  Work  of  a  masculine, 
massive,  colossal  character,  must  distinguish  our 
ministry  and  people.  Our  piety  must  be  back- 
boned with  principle,  and  rendered  prophet- 
visioned,  by  standing  just  where  the  throne 
flashes  its  ceaseless  light  earthward.  Our 
people  must  be  a  reading  people,  or  they  will 
be  a  weak  people ;  they  must  be  a  working 
people,  or  they  will  become  spiritually  dyspep- 
tic for  the  want  of  exercise ;  and  our  piety  will 
be  made  up  of  spasms,  strongly  tinctured  with 
animal  fervors,  and  based  upon  half  principles. 
There  is  a  sense  in  which  a  Church  may  always 
be  said  to  be  in  a  revival  state,  if  all  its  mem- 
bers but  be  hard  at  work  to  accomplish  some 
great  object  of  Church  aggression.  It  may  be 
the  building  of  a  church  edifice,  or  the  estab- 
lishing of  a  seminary.  One  reason,  as  it  seems 
to  us,  why  the  AVest,  both  this  winter  and  last, 
has  been  distinguished  by  such  a  large  number 
of  revivals,  is,  that  our  people  are  all  at  work, 
building  churches  and  parsonages,  establishing 
schools^  new  church  organs,  etc.    And  it  will 


NECESSITY  OF  AGGRESSIVE  ENTERPRISE.  Ill 

generally  be  found  that  that  preacher  who  has 
not  secularized  himself  by  inordinate  land  specu- 
lations, the  purchase  of  railroad  stock,  etc.,  and 
who  is  not  fearful  and  unbelieving  on  the  sub- 
ject of  his  own  support,  and  who  has  his  hands 
the  deepest  in  this  good  work — the  greatest 
number  of  irons  in  the  fire — will  be  found  the 
most  certainly  to  be  blessed  with  a  revival,  and  the 
most  certainly  to  get  a  competent  support. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  activities  of  Methodism 
in  the  Northwest  as  it  finds  itself  without  a 
shelter,  and  must  needs  meet  the  want.  This 
suggests  to  us  a  great  fact  of  modern  date  in  the 
history  of  sister  denominations,  going  alike  to 
illustrate  the  fact  that  a  worhing  laity  will 
always  graduate  a  ChurcKs  prosperity.  With 
Methodists  the  principle  was  early  incorporated 
in  the  order  of  their  worship,  that  the  Church 
member  should  not  only  be  privileged,  but  that 
it  is  made  his  duty  to  reveal  the  state  of  his 
faith  and  Christian  experience  before  his  breth- 
ren from  time  to  time,  and  at  the  same  time 
his  benevolence  in  the  support  of  the  institutions 
of  the  Church  sh#uld  be  taxed.  This  provision 
is  found  in  the  class-meeting,  where  those  who 
love  the  Lord  speak  often  one  to  another,  and 
make  weekly  contributions  for  the  support  of  the 


112    HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  KEVIVAL8. 

ministry  and  relief  of  the  poor.  Here,  we  re- 
peat, was  an  early  provision  for  the  continuous 
working  of  the  laity,  and  just  as  long  as  it  could 
be  carried  into  effect,  Methodism  was  little  else 
than  another  name  for  a  continuous  revival. 
But  no  adequate  provision,  we  apprehend,  has 
been  made  for  the  working  of  the  laity  in  other 
evangelical  Churches.  In  the  course  of  events, 
however,  work,  noble  work,  has  been  thrust  upon 
them.  In  the  Missionary,  Tract,  Sabbath-School, 
and  other  glorious  reforms  and  enterprises,  all  of 
which  are  of  modern  date,  the  laity  find  abund- 
ant food  for  thought,  motive  for  effort,  and 
channels  for  benevolence.  The  effect  upon 
sister  Churches  has  been  most  invigorating. 
The  Episcopalian,  Presbyterian,  and  Congre- 
gational branches  of  the  Church  were  never 
more  flourishing  in  this  country  than  now. 
Their  aggressive  power,  especially  in  Western 
cities  and  towns,  is  such  as  should  not  only  pro- 
voke Methodists  to  emulation,  but  excite  in  them 
the  greatest  caution,  lest,  by  apathy,  they  permit 
others  to  enter  into  their  labors,  to  supplant 
them  in  their  position.  Are  they  not  doing 
this  in  not  a  few  localities  ? 


NUESDSTG  THE  YOUNG  CONVERT.  113 


CHAPTER  XII. 

NURSING  THE   YOUNG  CONVERT. 

A  DISPROPORTION  BETWEEN  CONVERSIONS  RECORDED  AND  ULTIMATE 
RESULTS  —  INCREASE  IN  THE  MEMBERSHIP  IN  THE  YEARS  1854-5 
NOT  FLATTERING  —  MORE  IMPORTANT  TO  TAKE  CARE  OF  WHAT 
WE  HAVE,  THAN  TO  SECURE  MORE  AT  THE  NEGLECT  OF  THAT  — 
THE  YOUNG  CONVERT  MUST  BE  INSTRUCTED  KIND  OF  IN- 
STRUCTION NEEDED  THE  HELP  PROVIDED  FOR  THE  PASTOR  

THE  CLASS-LEADER  OUR  CHURCH  LITERATURE  NECESSITY  OF 

CATECHETICAL  INSTRUCTION  —  THE  EXAMPLE  OF  THE  ANCIENT 
CHURCH  —  OUR  INCREASED  FACILITIES  FOR  NURSING  THE  YOUNG 

CONVERT  LOSS  TO  THE  ANCIENT  CHURCH  FOR  THE  WANT  OF 

THE  PRESS  —  THE  BIRTHPLACE  OF  THE  POPE  —  NECESSITY  OF 
SPREADING  OUR  BOOKS  —  THE  YOUNG  CONVERT  TO  BE  AT  ONCE 
SUPPLIED  —  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  RELIGIOUS  WEEKLY  —  RELATION 
OF  RELIGIOUS  READING  TO  REVELATION  —  THE  BIBLE  ALWAYS  TO 
PRECEDE,  BUT  NEVER  SUPERSEDE  THE  CONSECRATED  TONGUE 
AND  PEN. 

"  Till  I  come,  give  attendance  to  reading."  The 
theme  of  the  present  chapter  is  the  relation  of 
the  J^oung  convert  to  our  religious  literature. 
This,  in  these  days,  must  be  introduced  as  an 
auxiliary  to  pastoral,  verbal,  and  catechetical 
training.  It  must  constitute  the  pabulum  of  the 
babe  in  Christ.  We  the  more  readily  offer  some 
thoughts  upon  this  theme,  in  view  of  some  im- 
portant facts  in  our  late  history.  During  the  years 
8 


114   HELPS  TO  THE  PJIO:MOTION  OF  EEYIYALS. 

1854-5,  the  .columns  of  our  Advocates  were  res- 
onant with  revival  shouts.  We  rejoiced  to  be 
privileged  to  read  of  the  conversion  of  many  hun- 
dreds, and  we  felt,  until  the  General  Minutes  came 
out,  that  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  nu- 
merically, had  taken  a  hopeful  stride  onward. 
The  showing  of  the  General  Minutes  disappointed 
us,  and  we  read  of  a  decrease,  in  fourteen  confer- 
ences, of  three  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
forty.  To  be  sure,  emigration  mainly  accounted 
for  this  fact.  But  still,  the  aggregate  increase, 
sixteen  thousand  and  seventy-three  (two  and  one 
third  per  cent.)  disappointed  us.  Among  these 
sixteen  thousand  increase,  were  to  be  counted 
the  conversion  of  several  thousand  in  the  Sabbath 
school,  and  also  the  addition  of  several  thousand 
by  letter,  from  England,  Ireland,  and  Canada, 
leaving  quite  too  small  a  showing  as  the  result 
of  revival  effort.  We  numbered  Israel,  at  the 
close  of  last  year,  with  no  fearful  or  croaking 
spirit,  and  yet  we  felt  that,  so  far  as  we  had 
sent  out  our  influence  in  favor  of  revivals,  we 
had  proved,  emphatically,  an  unprofitable  serv- 
ant. And  while  we  first  examined  ourselves 
to  see  what  was  wrong  at  home,  as  we  think 
every  minister  should  do,  in  pondering  a  great 
question  of  Church  progress  and  responsibility, 


NURSma  THE  YOUNG  CONVERT.  115 


we  felt  that  something  was  wrong,  and  that  the 
wrong  was,  probably,  wide-spread.  Had  there 
not  been  a  want  of  proper  nursing  extended  to 
the  young  convert  ?  And  in  what  did  this  de- 
fect consist?  Every  one,  perhaps,  will  agree 
with  us,  that  the  principal  work  of  the  pastor, 
with  the  young  convert,  commences  after  his 
conversion  and  admission  to  the  Church.  So 
important  has  our  Church  ever  regarded  instruc- 
tion of  this  kind,  that  she  has  provided  the  pas- 
tor a  number  of  subordinate  helps  in  the  class- 
leaders.  That  the  pastor  can  be  much  with  the 
convert  in  person,  and  instruct  him;  find  out  his 
difficulties,  strengthen  him  against  temptation, 
and  encourage  him  to  renewed  effi^rt,  every  one 
knows  to  be  generally  impracticable.  What, 
then,  besides  the  stated  instruction  of  the  pulpit, 
and  the  application  of  these  lessons  by  the  faith- 
ful leader  in  the  class-room,  comes  in,  most 
efficiently,  to  supply  this  lack  of  service  ?  We 
unhesitatingly  answer,  our  books  and  period- 
icals. 

In  far  the  larger  number  of  cases,  religious 
reading  is  essential  to  make  up  the  complement 
of  that  happy  combination  of  moral  and  religious 
influences  that  should  be  ever  kept,  like  a  life- 
infusing  atmosphere,  about  the  young  convert. 


116    HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 


"We  fear  this  arm  of  our  strength  has  not  been 
duly  appreciated.  We  fear  that  the  practice  of 
the  primitive  Church  has  not  been  pleaded  in 
example,  here,  as  it  ought  to  have  been.  He  has 
read  Church  history  to  very  little  purpose,  who 
fails  to  remember,  that,  in  the  early  periods  of 
the  Church,  when  the  wondrous  press,  w^hich 
multiplies  its  tongues  at  will,  and  speaks  to  many 
millions  in  the  same  minute,  was  unknown,  that 
the  catechising  of  the  young  convert,  the  initia- 
ting of  him  into  the  doctrine  of  the  Gospel,  and 
order  of  the  Church,  occupied  far  the  larger  por- 
tion of  the  pastor's  time.  Hence  it  was  that  the 
young  converts,  for  many  centuries,  were  called 
catechumens,  or,  pupils  of  the  Gospel.  "Would 
that  our  young  converts  were  induced  to  become 
students  of  the  Gospel  at  once!  Would  that 
more  prompt  efforts  were  made  to  awaken 
thought,  and  thus  wed  the  young  convert  to  the 
Church  by  adding  this  tie  to  the  fervors  of  a  fii^st 
love !  What  the  ancient  pastors  were  w^ont  to 
do,  verbally,  for  the  want  of  it,  modern  pastoi's 
may  now  do  by  the  printed  page.  Look  over 
our  extended  catalogue  of  book,  tract,  and  Sab- 
bath-school publications ;  recommend,  also,  with 
no  less  zeal,  some  one  of  our  weekly  sheets,  for 
in  all  will  be  found,  for  every  man,  exhaustless 


NURSING  THE  YOUNG  CONVERT.  117 

stores  of  "meat  in  due  season."  With  the 
wholesome  and  strong-textured  government  of 
the  primitive  Church,  with  the  requirements 
which  it  laid  upon  the  man  mental,  as  well  as 
the  man  spiritual,  we  have  often  thought,  that 
the  primitive  fathers  would  have  kept  the  gates 
of  hell  from  prevailing  against  the  Church,  nine 
tenths  more  than  they  succeeded  in  doing,  had 
they  but  been  favored  with  the  facilities  of  the 
modern  press.  Their  programme  was  right,  but 
they  failed  for  the  want  of  means  to  carry  it  out. 
They  were  without  the  means  of  unitizing 
thought,  and  this  was  weakness ;  they  were 
without  the  means  of  perpetuating  thought, 
and  this  was  poverty,  always  rendering  them 
new  beginners.  They  were  without  the  means 
of  spreading  thought,  commensurate  with  the 
outside  pressure  from  the  all-surrounding  dark- 
ness. Ignorance  begat  superstition,  and  su- 
perstition begat  the  pope.  Like  the  old  flood 
of  Noah,  the  consequences  that  followed  have 
left  their  traces  of  moral  ruin  everywhere  upon 
the  face  of  the  earth.  After  miracles  ceased, 
and  inspiration  returned  to  its  home  in  heaven, 
the  pulpit  seemed  without  ability  to  hold  its 
place  of  purity  and  power  among  mankind. 
This,  brethren,  is  the  age  of  the  press,  and  the 


118    HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  KEYIYALS. 

work  of  the  Church  is  to  consecrate  that  press. 
The  Church  has  provided  for  your  young  con- 
verts the  unobtrusive,  and  yet  fascinating,  the 
silent,  but  yet  eloquent,  catechist.  It  visits  him 
with  but  trifling  expense ;  it  asks  no  place  in  his 
bed  nor  at  his  board ;  it  lays  no  tax  upon  his 
hospitalities,  and  yet,  when  its  mouth  is  opened, 
it  teaches  him,  without  the  possibility  of  being 
misunderstood,  those  lessons  of  caution  and  love, 
of  ethics  and  of  doctrine,  of  discipline  and  of 
duty,  without  a  knowledge  of  which,  early  im- 
parted, many  will  be  sick  and  weakly  among 
us,  others  draw  back,  and  some  to  perdition. 
Dear  brethren,  place  our  books  in  the  hands  of 
the  young  convert,  with  the  injunction  of  Paul 
to  Timothy,  ''Give  thyself  to  reading  till  I  come." 

Especially  in  the  periodical  form  should  our 
Church  literature  be  commended,  and  urged 
upon  our  young  converts.  In  this  age  of  news- 
papers, every  interest  has  its  organ.  The  ped- 
dler of  some  newly-invented  peat-bog  pill  must 
needs  issue  a  newspaper,  and  organize,  by  its 
power,  his  circle  of  friends,  to  make  Brandreth 
the  pill-monger,  Brandreth  the  millionaire. 
This  use,  or  misuse  of  the  press  has  become  so 
customary,  that  it  amounts  to  a  social  law,  to  an 
order  of  things.    "Shall  the  children  of  this 


NURSING  THE  YOUNG  CONVERT.  119 


world  be  wiser  than  the  children  of  light?" 
Can  we  expect  the  young  convert  to  feel  a  lively 
interest  in  that  numerous  and  far-extended 
brotherhood,  to  which  he  is  an  additional  broth- 
er, if  he  be  ignorant  of  her  history  and  her 
achievements?  The  Church  must  be  known  to 
be  loved,  and  the  heart  of  Methodism  is  made  to 
beat  weekly  against  the  heart  of  the  young  con- 
vert by  means  of  the  religious  sheet.  Among 
the  twenty-five  hundred  young  converts,  whose 
translation  from  darkness  to  light,  and  admission 
into  the  bosom  of  our  Zion,  how  many  new  sub- 
scribers ought  we  to  expect  for  our  papers?  We 
were  told  the  other  day,  by  a  German  presiding 
elder,  that  one  of  tlie  matter-of-course  things 
always  attended  to  whenever  they  receive  a  new 
member  into  the  Church,  is  then  and  there  "  to 
urge  him  to  take  the  '  Apologisty^  If  not  in 
form,  in  fact  we  consider  the  example  a  noble 
one,  and  full  worthjiof  imitation  by  our  brethren, 
who  are  now  enjoying  such  blessed  revival 
visitations.  Who  doubts  but  there  is  a  con- 
servative power,  ay,  a  sanctifying  power,  in  such 
a  course,  that  will  tell  favorably  upon  our  sta- 
tistics of  increase.  It  is  one  thing  to  be  instru- 
mental in  the  sinners  CQUversiqii,  an(J  record  it 
in  our  revival  notices,  to  the  glory  of  God,  and 


120  HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

another  thing,  and  no  less  a  work,  to  keep  the 
sinner  converted,  and  develop  his  suscepti- 
bilities of  Christian  character  "into  the  fullness 
of  the  stature  of  a  man  in  Christ  Jesus." 

But  some  may  be  ready  to  accuse  us  of  over- 
rating the  importance  of  merely  uninspired  re- 
ligious reading — of  exalting  the  servant  above 
his  Lord — the  book  above  the  Bible.  By  no 
means.  We  are  only  introducing  the  true  mis- 
sion of  the  herald,  the  John  the  Baptist,  to 
prepare  the  way.  We  grossly  err  in  supposing 
that  even  the  Bible  will  be  read,  by  even  young 
converts,  in  preference  to  some  religious  litera- 
ture in  another  form.  To  suppose  this  is  to  err 
as  greatly  as  to  suppose  that  the  unconverted 
will  read  the  Bible  sooner  than  hear  preach- 
ing. And  as  experience  demonstrates  the 
truth  in  the  latter  case,  so,  very  limited  ob- 
servation will  demonstrate  it  in  the  former. 
But  why  has  preaching  beeft  instituted  ?  Why, 
for  the  purpose  of  adapting  the  truth  to  man's 
capabilities  certainly,  and  so  simplifying  it,  and 
mixing  it  with  the  facts  and  experiences  of  the 
present,  that  it  more  readily  coalesces  with  the 
thoughts  of  the  hearers,  and  proves  the  "  power 
of  God  unto  salvation."  Precisely  so  wdth  the 
religious  book.    It  is  preaching  to  the  eye, 


NUESING  THE  YOUNG  CONVERT.  121 

while  the  living  voice  preaches  to  the  ear.  But 
how  can  we  exalt  ■aninspired  religious  reading 
above  the  Bible,  when,  as  we  now  assume,  if  it 
be  the  kind  of  religious  reading  needed,  it  per- 
fectly accords  with  the  Bible  ?  It  would  not  be 
religious  reading  if  it  did  not  defer  to  the  Bible 
as  the  rule,  and  only  rule  of  our  faith  and  prac- 
tice. The  moon  would  cease  to  be  the  moon 
did  she  cease  to  reflect,  though  attempering 
them  in  the  process,  the  rays  of  the  sun.  But 
what  is  the  true  relation  of  the  consecrat- 
ed page  to  holy  writ?  An  illustration  may 
help  us  to  a  clearer  and  more  extended  concep- 
tion. The  Bible  is  a  volume  full  of  great  first 
truths  in  morals  and  doctrines,  history  and  duty. 
But  these  truths  but  rarely  lie  within  its  sacred 
in  closures  imder  any  system  of  classification, 
while  the  concrete  of  these  truths — concrete  is 
the  embodiment  of  the  abstract,  as  seen  in  the 
acts  of  men — is  illustrated  by  example  in  a  wide- 
ly diff'erent  manner.  Truth,  in  the  Bible,  lies 
like  the  precious  ore  in  the  bosom  of  the  mount- 
ain. It  is  there  in  inexhaustible  stores.  But, 
comparatively  speaking,  only  now  and  then  is 
this  ore  to  be  found  quarried,  and  smelted,  and 
ready  for  use.  Well,  now,  what  relation  does 
the  preacher  or  the  pious  pen  sustain  to  this 


122  HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  EEYIYALS. 

massive  mine  ?  It  is  to  quarry,  and  smelt,  and 
prepare  its  precious  boon  for  the  readier  recep- 
tion of  others.  But  let  there  be  no  monopoly  of 
mining.  That  the  priests  only  can  understand 
and  interpret  the  Bible,  is  one  of  the  giant  lies 
of  papacy.  Let  every  man  quarry  and  smelt 
for  himself.  Let  not  the  young  convert  neglect 
the  Bible  for  a  moment,  because,  in  his  first  in- 
troduction to  it,  he  may  find  many  things  "  hard 
to  be  understood."  He  will  also  find  many 
things  easy  to  be  understood,  and  the  products 
of  the  pens  of  the  wise  and  the  good  will  help 
him  to  wade,  with  the  intrepidity  of  the  angel- 
led  prophet,  far  into  the  depths  of  the  river  of 
life.  "  And  he  brought  me  through  the  waters  ; 
the  waters  were  to  the  ankles :  again  he  measur- 
ed a  thousand,  and  brought  me  through  the 
w^aters;  the  waters  were  to  the  knees.  Again 
he  measured  a  thousand,  and-  brought  me 
through ;  the  waters  were  to  the  loins.  After- 
ward he  measured  a  thousand,  and  it  was  a 
river  that  I  could  not  pass  over ;  for  the  waters 
were  risen,  w^aters  to  swim  in,  a  river  that 
could  not  be  passed  over."  What  the  angel 
visitant,  with  his  measuring  line,  was  to  the 
prophet  Ezekiel,  the  living  teacher  and  the  print- 
ed teacher  are  to  the  sinner  and  to  the  young 


NURSING  THE  YOUNG  CONVERT.  123 


convert.  The  Bible,  in  the  work  of  reform, 
conversion,  and  development,  was  never  design- 
ed to  supersede  the  anointed,  holy  tongue,  and 
the  consecrated  pen.  Brethren,  do  we  duly 
appreciate  the  evidently  heaven-ordained  mis- 
sion of  the  latter  no  less  than  the  former  ? 


124:  HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  EEVIVALS. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  POWER  OF  KINDNESS. 

"WHAT  CHRISTIAN  KINDNESS  IS  NOT — CHRISTIAN  KINDNESS  DEFINEL 

 ERRONEOUS  VIEWS  CORRECTED  —  THE  ESTHETIC  ELEMENT  OP 

KINDNESS  THE  POWER  OF  KINDNESS  ILLUSTRATED  —  RELATION 

OF  KINDNESS  TO  GOOD  MANNERS  KINDNESS  AS  A  REVIVAL  EL- 
EMENT —  CONSTITUTES  A  WANT  OF  THE  CHURCH  KINDNESS  A 

TEST  OP  CHRISTIAN  CHARACTER. 

''If  it  be  possible,  as  much  as  lieth  in  you, 
live  peaceably  with  all  men."  It  is  a  Scriptural 
principle,  then,  that  it  is  not  always  possible  to 
live  peaceably  with  all  men.  Differences  of 
opinion,  inducing  pungent  resistance  in  argu- 
ment, occurred  even  among  inspired  apostles. 
Paul  ''  withstood  Peter  to  his  face,  because  he 
was  to  be  blamed."  Perfect  non-resistance  on 
all  occasions  when  right  is  at  the  risk,  or  char- 
acter hazarded,  is  but  mawkish  piety,  the  strain- 
ing of  a  virtue  beyond  its  natural  bounds,  until 
it  ceases  to  be  a  virtue.  In  such  persons,  all 
positiveness,  all  aggressiveness  of  character  is 
sacrificed.  Self-defense  is  by  no  means  to  be 
confounded  with  rendering  evil  for  evil."  The 
cause  of  innocence  and  truth  may  require  such 


THE  POWER  OF  KINDNESS. 


125 


defense,  even  if  their  assaulter  should  be  made 
the  sufferer  by  it.  By  kindness,  then,  we  do 
not  mean  that  insipid,  affected,  and  water-gruel 
sentimentality  that  fears  the  ill-will  of  the  sin- 
ner more  than  it  desires  and  burns  to  rebuke 
the  sin ;  and  apologizes  with  the  waft  of  a  white 
handkerchief,  cologned  for  the  occasion,  for  por- 
traying in  Scripture  language  that  outer  dark- 
ness and  hell  of  fire  and  brimstone  which  are  the 
terminus  of  the  sinner's  course.  Nor  do  we 
mean  that  wishy-washy  piety  that  talks  much 
of  persecution,  of  suffering  in  silence,  and  claims 
that  it  is  its  duty  to  do  no  more  than  throw  up 
its  hands  in  prayer  for  its  enemies,  whatever 
dastard  tattler,  insidious  whisperer,  or  open  ca- 
lumniator may  undertake  to  inflict,  in  the  indulg- 
ence of  a  morbid  appetite,  upon  its  reputation. 
Nor  does  it  care  to  busy  itself  to  chase  down 
every  latest  edition  of  a  lie.  Christian  kindness 
is  a  masculine  virtue.  It  is  strong  to  bear  the 
infirmities  of  the  weak,  but  equally  prompt  to 
defend  the  right,  when  assailed  in  its  own  per- 
son or  otherwise.  Its  controlling  power  is  love, 
and  not  fear.  And  it  is  always  more  ready  to 
resent  injury  done  to, innocence,  or  to  repel  a 
thrust  at  truth,  than  to  count  the  cost — weigh 
the  consequences.    And  yet  it  is  not  rash.  It 


126    HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

always  makes  haste  slowly.  It  is'  always  in 
haste,  but  never  in  a  hurry.  "  It  doth  not  be- 
have itself  unseemly."  There  is  a  morally  es- 
thetic beauty  about  it,  to  which  we  give  the 
name  of  courtesy.  This  ^^irtue  leavens  the  ad- 
ministration of  its  rebukes,  and  makes  them  ad- 
mired, even  where  they  are  repulsed ;  but  not 
wholly  repulsed.  An  appreciation  of  the  fitting 
and  a  love  of  the  beautiful  are  primary  senti- 
ments in  the  mind.  And  the  man  who  differs 
with  me  in  kindness,  and  points  to  the  Delilah 
of  my  ruin,  has  begotten  a  species  of  conviction, 
even  in  spite  of  my  most  obstinate  opposition. 
There  are  those  among  Christians,  and  even 
Christian  ministers,  who  contend  that  they  can 
do  nothing  with  some,  without  making  them 
mad.  Such  persons  are,  certainly,*rare  excep- 
tions to  the  power  of  kindness,  and  we  think 
kindness  itself  demands  they  should  never  be 
mentioned.  This  is  a  dangerous  doctrine,  and 
very  full  of  mischief. 

True  kindness  must  be  inbred.  It  is  the  fruit 
of  grace,  under  the  husbandry  of  self-discipline. 
Some  temperaments  are  vastly  better  adapted 
to  the  development  and  exercise  of  this  virtue 
than  others.  But  no  temperament  is  so  per- 
verse, no  constitutional  peculiarities  too  obsti- 


THE  POWER  OF  KINDNESS. 


127 


nate  to  be 'overcome.  And  we  should  plead 
their  existence  in  Christian  character,  as  an 
apology  for  rashness,  rudeness,  acerbity  of  spirit, 
harshness  of  speech,  and  carelessly-chosen  words, 
with  great  hesitancy.  If  the  grace  of  God  will 
not  induce  us  to  treat  each  other  kindly,  either 
it  has  failed  in  its  efficacy,  or  we  have  mistaken 
something  else  for  its  efficacy.  The  world  ex- 
pects Christians  to  be  kind  one  to  another,  and 
will  detect  a  departure  in  speech,  spirit,  or  act, 
with  preeminent  readiness  and  precision.  "Be 
kindly  affectioned  one  to  another,  in  honor  pre- 
ferring one  another."  No  chord  of  the  human 
heart  has  lost  less  its  sensitiveness,  by  man's 
lapse  from  Eden  purity,  than  that  which  awak- 
ens to  the  touch  of  kindness.  Her  gentlest 
breath  inspires  it  with  song,  while  an  opposite 
look  or  gesture  becomes  electrical,  and  equally 
causes  it  to  vibrate,  but  with  pain,  pity,  or  with 
hate.  There  is  a  vast,  diffusive,  conservative, 
and  controlling  power  in  kindness.  The  every- 
day social  illustrations  of  this  are  so  familiar,  as 
to  become  self-suggestive.  But  does  an  emer- 
gency arise  ?  Are  the  elements  of  strife  abroad, 
and  waking  the  social  waters  into  fury  and 
foam,  like  the  winds  of  the  great  ocean  ?  Con- 
ceive we  of  such  a  state  of  things  in  a  deliberative 


128   HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVFTALS. 

body,  a  church  meeting,  etc.  ?  Watch  yonder 
the  man  who  has  an  "excellent  spirit  within 
him,"  the  man  who  has  studied  kindness  by 
keeping  himself  in  the  love  of  God,  and  who 
has  attired  himself  in  her  beautiful  robes,  by 
studying  the  laws  of  courtesy,  whose  acts  are 
replete  with  gentleness,  as  the  zephyrs,  and  little 
eddying  winds,  prophets  of  the  coming  storm, 
but  whose  firmness  without  obstinacy,  and 
whose  independence  without  egotism,  are  as 
strong  as  that  storm ;  show  us  that  man,  arid  it 
may  scarcely  be  deemed  desecration  to  compare 
his  control  in  that  body,  other  things  being 
equal,  to  the  "Peace,  be  still,"  once  uttered  over 
tempestuous  Galilee.  The  kind  man,  especially 
the  kind  Christian,  carries  with  him — be  his 
talent  indeed  humble — an  atmosphere  of  force 
and  sweet  impressiveness  wherever  he  goes. 
Kindness  is  not  "good  manners,"  technically 
speaking.  He  may  be  wholly  ignorant  of  the 
canons  of  Chesterfield,  and  the  programme  of 
Count  d'Orsay.  Uninitiated  into  the  school  of 
fashionable  etiquette,  he  may  have  read  or 
lieard  nothing,  systematically,  upon  that  sub- 
ject, more  than  what  is  found  in  the  thirteenth 
chapter  of  first  Corinthians.  But  like  the  flower 
of  the  wilderness*  kindness  sheds  as  sweet  an 


THE  POWER  OF  KINDNESS.  129 

odor  upon  a  cabin  hearth,  with  its  rude  attire, 
scanty  vocabulary,  and  frugal  fare,  as  the  rose 
that  blooms  upon  the  walls  of  mural  palaces. 
Xindness  extemporizes  an  etiquette  for  itself, 
and  becomes  a  "stroke  of  nature  that  makes  all 
men  kin."  Not  that  it  seeks  an  individualism  of 
manner,  or  glories  in  personal  eccentricities,  part- 
ly natural  and  partly  affected.  'Nov  does  it  dis- 
claim many  of  what  are  called  the  laws  of  good 
manners.  It  becomes  no  oddity  in  the  social  cir- 
cle, to  the  level  of  which  it  may  have  been  raised 
by  taste  and  talent.  Contrariwise,  the  most  ap- 
proved manners  of  the  refined  gentleman  soon 
become,  by  study  and  acquisition,  the  most  ap- 
proved etiquette  of  the  Christian,  but  especially 
of  the  Christian  minister.  And  in  this  the  kind- 
hearted  Christian  always  has  the  advantage,  for 
if  Christian  kindness  be  not  the  body  of  refined 
manners,  it  is  much  more,  it  is  the  soul  of  that 
body.  A  high  state  of  Christian  civilization, 
without  such  refinement  of  manner  as  sphere  in 
life,  capacity,  and  education  would  call  for,  all 
must  acknowledge  to  be  a  solecism.  Kindness, 
then,  is  the  art  of  pleasing,  practiced  by  a  heart 
that  has  become  graciously  kind  and  charitable 
under  the  influence  of  grace  and  the  illumina- 
tions of  the  Bible.   But  to  please  a  nxan  is  to 


130   HELPS  TO  THE  PROMO'nON  OF  BEVIVALS. 

win  his  confidence.  It  imperceptibly  sways 
him  in  our  favor,  and  in  favor  of  the  opinions 
we  advance.  ''Let  every  one  of  us  please  his 
brother,  for  his  good  to  edification." 

When  we  commenced  to  develop,  as  we  have 
done  above,  this  essential  element  of  power  in 
the  winning  of  souls,  w^e  had  designed  to  trace  in 
our  pulpit,  and  in  our  press  and  social  life,  what 
we  deem  departures  from  the  law  of  kindness. 
Our  remarks  have  become  so  extended  as  to  for- 
bid this  in  the  present  chapter,  and  never  did  we 
more  readily  permit  an  application  to  take  care 
of  itself.  We  think  the  principles  we  have 
enumerated  will  readily  suggest  to  our  readers 
many,  at  least,  of  those  practical  lessons  of 
which  they  are  so  replete.  Will  they  especially 
consider  the  power  of  kindness  in  its  application 
to  the  promotion  of  revivals,  and  the  husbandry 
of  their  blessed  fruits?  It  is  an  element  of 
power  that  should  be  confined  to  no  department 
of  the  Church.  It  should  extend  from  the  high- 
est functionary  to  the  last  converted  infant  in 
the  Sabbath  school,  whose  limping  lisps  and 
dewy  eye  "perfect  the  praise  of  Jesus."  As 
far  as  any  single  grace,  or  combination  of 
graces,  for  such  it  is,  involve  the  interests  of  our 
Church  in  practice,  the  want  of  being  kindly 


THE  POWER  OF  KINDNESS. 


131 


aflfectioned  one  toward  another  may  be  pro- 
nounced a  great  Want  of  our  Zion.  Thank 
God,  we  speak  not  despairingly.  The  present 
blessed,  and  almost  universal  revival  visitation, 
has  greatly  increased  the  prevalence  of  brotherly 
love.  It  is  not  our  province  nor  our  privilege 
to  mingle  much  with  the  little  flock"  who  are 
to  inherit  the  "  kingdom  but  it  is  to  see  many 
of  our  embassadors  for  Christ,  (and  hear  from 
hundreds  more,)  who  shaking  us  with  unwonted 
warmness  by  the  hand,  refer  to  the  revival  col- 
umns of  our  Advocates,  with  glowing  emphasis, 
as  the  common  weekly  band-meeting  of  the 
whole  Church,  who  sympathize  in  sentiment, 
and  seem  especially  urged  to  the  practice  of  the 
apostle's  injunction:  ''Finally,  be  ye  all  of  one 
mind,  having  compassion  one  of  another;  love 
as  brethren,  be  pitiful,  be  courteous:  not  ren- 
dering evil  for  evil,  or  railing  for  railing ;  but 
contrariwise,  blessing;  knowing  that  ye  are 
thereunto  called,  that  ye  should  inherit  a  bless- 
ing. For  he  that  will  love  his  life  and  see 
good  days,  let  him  refrain  his  tongue  from  evil, 
and  his  lips  that  they  speak  no  guile." 

"See  how  these  Christians  love,"  has  often 
been  an  argument  before  which  infidelity  has 
withered  and  vanished,  like  the  fabled  upas 


132  HELPS  TO  THE  PEOMOTION  OF  KEYIVALS. 

upon  the  brink  of  an  active  volcano.  Dear 
brethren,  let  us  pause,  ponder,  and  pray  over  the 
emphasis  which  we  are  to  place  upon  this 
how^''  with  reference  to  the  state  of  our  own 
cherished  Methodism. 


INFRACTIONS  OF  THE  LAW  OF  KINDNESS.  133 


OHAPTEE  Xiy. 

INFRACTIONS  OF  THE  LAW  OF  KINDNESS  CON- 
SIDERED. 

LAW  OF  KINDNESS  VIOLATED  IN    SPIRIT  THE  PULPIT  SCOLD  

THE  ACID  REVIVALIST  —  RESULTS  OF  SUCH  REVIVALS  THE  RE- 
LATION OF  THE  TONES  OF  THE  VOICE  TO  KINDNESS  —  ANECDOTE 

OP  WHITEFIELD  —  VOICE  OF  THE  PREACHER  IN  THE  PULPIT  

ANECDOTE  OF  THE  LITTLE  GIRL  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  SUBJECT 

TOO  LITTLE  REALIZED  WORDS  UNFITLY  SPOKEN  PERSONAL- 
ITIES IN  DEBATE  —  AN  APOLOGY  FOR  THEIR  PREVALENCE  —  THE 
OLD  WRITERS  THE  YOUNG  WRITERS  —  REFORM  NEEDED. 

We  spoke  in  the  last  chapter  of  the  power  of 
kindness  as  a  potent  element  in  the  work  of  win- 
ning souls,  keeping  them  wedded  to  our  holy 
altars,  and  nurturing  them  for  the  skies.  We 
promised,  by  way  of  illustration  and  warning,  to 
point  out  what  we  regarded  as  some  of  the  de- 
partures from  the  law  of  kindness. 

The  law  of  kindness  may  be  violated  in  spirit. 
By  the  spirit  of  a  man  we  now  mean  those  social, 
intellectual,  and  moral  impressions,  which,  either 
as  a  writer,  preacher,  or  private  companion,  he 
makes  upon  us,  and  which  are  more  or  less 
agreeable  to  us,  and  which  we  so  readily  feel  to 


134   HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

be  in  accordance  with  candor,  truth,  goodness, 
and  charity,  or  their  opposites.  A  right  act 
may  be  done  in  a  wrong  spirit.  The  spirit  in 
which  men  say  and  do  things  is,  in  fact,  one  of 
the  great  powers  of  life  in  the  promotion  of 
good  or  ill.  A  good  act  done  in  a  bad  spirit, 
might  often  better  not  have  been  done.  A  ser- 
mon preached  in  the  spirit  of  the  scold,  had,  we 
believe,  generally,  better  have  remained  un- 
preached.  There  are  those  who  pique  them- 
selves on  what  they  call  "  whipping  the  Church 
into  the  harness,"  and  all  this  under  the  shield 
of  that  great  truth  in  the  work  of  revivals,  that 
the  Church  must  first  be  set  right.  Nor  is  it  to 
be  denied  that  some  successful  revivalists  are 
greatly  given  to  a  censorious,  denunciating,  dog- 
matical, harsh,  and  acid  mode  of  presenting  the 
truth.  We  have  often  heard  them,  in  their  pre- 
liminary lectures,  picking  out  w^hat  they  called 
the  sins  of  Church  members,  as  if  they  had 
brought  the  Church  to  judgment,  ex  cathedra^ 
and  then,  in  a  seemingly  commingled  spirit  of 
harshness,  egotism,  and  self-satisfaction,  they  de- 
cided upon  each  one's  fate.  We  have  said  that 
such  preaching  is  not  always  wanting  in  marked 
success.  And  here  let  it  be  borne  in  mind,  that 
we  have  long  settled  it  as  a  fact  in  the  economy 


INFRACTIONS  OF  THE  LAW  OF  KINDNESS.  135 

of  God's  grace,  that  sermons  often  quite  as  de- 
ficient in  the  right  spirit,  as  a  sermon  well  could 
be  in  intellectual  merit,  is  often  made  the  means 
of  great  good.  We  are  not  speaking,  then,  of  a 
style  of  preaching  that  does  710  good,  but  of  one 
which  always  fails  seriously  of  doing  the  greatest 
good.  A  revival,  originated  and  matured  under 
the  type  -of  pulpit  labor  which  we  have  here  so 
imperfectly  described,  is  very  apt  to  be  wanting 
in  deepness  of  earth.  In  all  revivals,  the  spirit 
of  the  preacher  is  preeminently  catching,  and  if 
he  be  given  to  censoriousness,  denunciation,  and 
a  right-angled — sometimes  acute — spirit,  this 
same  spirit  will  take  possession  of  the  Church 
and  the  young  converts.  And  when  the  rains 
come,  and  the  winds  blow  upon  such  a  moral 
structure,  if  it  do  not  always  all  fall,  we  have 
always  noticed  a  great  falling  away.  Every 
zealous  member  and  young  convert  must  needs 
be  as  urgent,  extreme,  and  peremptory  in  his  de- 
mands upon  a  brother,  or  the  sinner  ^e  would 
reform,  as  was  his  late  spiritual  model.  But,  in 
such  cases,  resistance  follow^,  feelings  ^re  hurt, 
heart-burnings  occur,  and  the  further  consequen- 
ces need  not  be  detailed,  We  maintain,  that  in 
this  case  there  is  a  sad  departure  in  spirit  from 
that  law  of  kindness  described  in  our  last  chapter. 


136    HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  KEVIVALS. 

The  law  of  kindness  may  be  violated  in  the 
tones  of  the  voice.  This,  perhaps,  is  often  acci- 
dental. In  the  former  case,  the  importance  of 
the  subject  may  have  been  never  considered. 
Bad  practices  may  have  become  chronic,  by 
time  and  the  power  of  habit.  Not  a  few,  how- 
ever, are  to  be  found  who  seem  to  delight  in  a 
gruff,  surly,  and  austere-toned  address.  There  is 
no  power  in  nature  more  mysterious,  none  that 
operates  with  greater  certainty,  than  that  of  the 
innumerable  intonations  of  which  the  human 
voice  is  capable.  In  a  tone,  grief  becomes  irre- 
sistibly eloquent,  hate  suggests  the  deadly 
poison  of  the  dreaded  basilisk,  love  unmans,  and 
beauty  transports.  It  is  not  the  words  of  the 
mother,  for  many  long  months,  that  make  her 
babe  feel  that  the  heart  of  love  is  its  cradle,  and 
the  lessons  of  discipline  its  lot.  "  Not  so  much 
what  my  mother  said  to  me,  as  the  way  she 
said  it,"  was  once  remarked  to  the  writer  by  a 
despairing  young  man,  who  had  sadly  strayed 
from  the  precepts  of  the  parental  roof.  "  O," 
said  he,  as  the  great  tears  coursed  down  his 
cheeks,  ^'  the  way  my  mother  said  that  last  thing 
to  me!  The  tones  of  her  voice  murmur  this 
moment  in  my  ear !"  Is  there^  then,  no  moral 
power  in  the  tone  of  a  word  ?    As  well  deny  to 


INFBACTIONS  OF  THE  LAW  OF  KINDNESS.  137 

music  its  charms,  to  the  rose  its  odor,  to  the  sky 
its  beauty.  Without  insisting  upon  the  study  of 
any  of  those  systems  of  art,  calculated  to  put  the 
human  voice  right,  here  we  will  say,  that  this 
is  a  subject  well  worthy  of  consideration — a  sub- 
ject demanding  attention,  even  by  private 
Christians,  where  none  is  often  thought  neces- 
sary ;  while,  as  it  respects  the  Christian  minister 
or  teacher,  it  is  one  that  should  be  studied  as  of 
no  secondary  importance.  Says  Whitefield,  "  I 
carefully  sought  out  those  acceptable  tones  that 
won  like  a  spell  upon  the  heart,  even  when  the 
w^ords  were  unremembered."  So  wonderfully 
modulated  was  his  voice,  that  Garrick  said,  "he 
could  make  men  either  laugh  or  cry,  by  pro- 
nounoing  the  word  Mesopotamia." 

"  His  words,  they  had  so  sweet  a  flow, 
And  spoke  the  truth  so  richly  well, 

They  fell  like  heaven's  serenes t  snow. 
And  all  was  brightness  where  they  fell." 

The  power  which  appropriate  intonations 
have  upon  our  own  moral  emotions,  and  the  in- 
fluence, again,  which  these  moral  emotions  have 
to  produce  thought,  should  suggest  a  valuable 
lesson  to  every  Christian  minister.  The  man 
who  is  always  talking  gruffly,  and  in  harsh  tones, 
may  think  strongly,  but  he  will  think  roughly. 


138  HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

Like  the  picture  of  the  artist,  which  becomes 
more  accurate  and  mellowed  by  age,  so  the 
sound  of  one's  own  voice  is  an  imperceptible 
educator  of  his  taste.  Much  of  the  harshness  of 
tone  of  which  we  are  now  speaking,  and  whicli 
vacillates  between  the  scold  and  hoarseness,  un- 
doubtedly arises  from  that  common  fault  of  the 
pulpit  of  pitching  the  voice  at  once  on  one  key, 
and  keeping  it  there,  only  with  increased  or 
diminished  percussion,  through  an  entire  dis- 
course. The  preacher  who  corrects  this  fault 
by  the  study  of  elocution,  does  vastly  more  than 
to  achieve  an  important  intellectual  victory. 
He  increases  mightily  his  powder  of  persuasive- 
ness. He  studies  the  elocution  of  moral  emo- 
tions. He  learns  to  speak  kindly  in  public. 
There  might  have  been  the  absence  of  all  un- 
kindness  before.  But  now  there  is  the  presence 
of  that  potent  charm.  We  appeal  to  the  ex- 
perience of  brethren.  How  often  have  we  re- 
gretted, even  while  preaching,  that  our  voice 
was  so  little  in  harmony  with  what  we  really 
felt  and  desired  to  teach.  "  Ma,"  said  the  little 
girl  to  her  mother,  on  returning  from  church, 
"  I  like  our  preacher  when  he  comes  to  see  us, 
but  I  don't  like  to  hear  him  preach."  On  being 
asked  why,  the  response  was,  "  His  preaching 


INFRACTIONS  OF  THE  LAW  OF  KINDNESS.  139 

sounded  like  scolding  all  the  time."  Here  we 
are  speaking  of  sacrificing  the  power  of  kind- 
ness, where  the  fault,  perhaps,  is  more  a  misfor- 
tune than  a  fault.  But  let  no  one  treat  these 
suggestions  lightly.  Daily  experience  demon- 
strates their  value.  Least  of  all,  let  no  one  dis- 
miss the  subject  with  the  mere  truism:  ''Be 
natural,  and  your  voice  will  always  be  right." 
If  such  teaching  would  have  reformed  these 
faults,  but  few  charges  of  the  kind  would  lay 
against  the  pulpit  to-day.  It  is,  in  fact,  simply 
begging  the  question,  which  is.  What  is  it  to  be 
natural?  Man  has  no  natural  gifts  which  are 
perfected  by  instinct.  All  the  excellence  of  any 
gift  which  he  possesses,  is  attributable  essen- 
tially to  art  and  education. 

The  law  of  kindness  is  often  infracted  by  an 
indiscreet  use  of  words  and  phrases^  proper 
enough  in  themselves  and  in  the  proper  time. 
How  often  do  we  meet  with  religious  teachers, 
from  the  pulpit  to  the  exhorter,  that  seem  to 
claim  that,  because  Christ  called  people  hypo- 
crites on  a  most  appropriate  occasion,  they  are 
to  employ  the  same  epithet  on  almost  any  occa- 
sion. And  because  whited  walls,  sepulchers, 
vipers,  spoilers  of  widows'  houses,  etc.,  were  em- 
ployed by  Christ  but  once,  perhaps,  in  a  minis- 


140  iHELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTIOK  OF  EEVIYALS. 

try  of  three  years,  these  same  epithets  are  to  dance 
through  half  their  discourses.  And,  as  to  the 
^'  terrors  of  the  law,^'  strange  and  magniloquent 
descriptions  of  the  state  of  the  lost,  why  it  would 
seem  if  they  were  to  learn  moderation  on  these 
subjects  they  would,  indeed,  be  robbed  of  all 
their  thunder.  ^'Pa,"  said  the  little  boy,  "  didn't 
the  preacher  swear  though  to-day?  was  he 
mad  ?"  Let  every  one  such  go  and  learn  what 
this  text  meaneth  :  A  word  fitly  spoken  is  like 
apples  of  gold  in  pictures  of  silver."  This  style 
of  preaching  and  exhorting,  though  not  so 
intended,  fails  to  cherish  the  power  of  kind- 
ness. 

But  worse  than  all  that  we  have  yet  said,  does 
the  law  of  kindness  suffer  among  us  when  contro- 
versial  intercourse  arises.  Lamentably  true  has 
tliis  been  of  our  press,  numerous  and  largely  in 
the  majority  as  are  many  of  the  noble  examples 
to  the  contrary*.  We  do  not  say  that  our  writers 
are' wanting  in  manliness  or  in  magnanimity, 
any  more  than  they  are  in  ability.  At  least, 
the  exceptions  are  exceptions.  But  it  is  only 
due  to  truth  to  say,  humiliating  as  is  the  con- 
fession, that  rarely  do  two  Methodist  preachers 
meet  in  discussion,  in  the  columns  of  a  newspa- 
per, without  some  sacrifice  of  mutual  good  feel- 


INFRACTIONS  OF  THE  LAW  OF  KINDNESS.  141 

ing,  and  a  manifest  disposition,  before  they  close, 
to  digress  from  the  subject  they  are  dissecting, 
and  by  way  of  episode  thrust  sharply  at  each 
other's  real  or  fancied  weaknesses.  Here,  what 
we  are  wont  to  call  "personalities"  arise. 
While  we  can  offer  no  apology  for  this,  further 
than  that  of  the  weakness  of  our  common  hu- 
manity, we  may  say,  that  there  is  a  reason  ex- 
tending far  back  in  our  history  that  has  tended 
largely  and  imperceptibly  to  produce  this  state 
of  things.  For  several  generations  of  our  itin- 
erants, in  different  localities,  they  had  to  contend 
inch  by  inch  for  the  ground  which  they  gained ; 
contend  with  the  ministry  of  other  sects,  who 
looked  upon  Metliodists  as  ignorant  interlopers ; 
not  subjects  of  argument,  but  fit  subjects  only  for 
ridicule.  These  opponents  could  appreciate  no 
pay  but  in  their  own  kind.  The  fool  must  needs 
be  answered  according  to  his  folly ;  and  scarcely 
less  prepared  was  society  to  appreciate  argu- 
ment destitute  of  this  appendage.  It  has  always 
been  unfortunate  for  the  kindness  and  etiquette 
of  debate,  where  sect  has  been  incessantly  grap- 
pling with  sect.  Man's  religious  prejudices  are 
the  strongest  of  his  nature,  and  where  an  honest 
preference  first  degenerates  into  prejudice,  and 
this  again  into  bigotry,  there  is  no  bitterness  of 


142    HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

opposition  or  expression  of  which  the  heart  fails 
to  become  a  fountain. 

But,  after  conquering  a  peace  with  our  neigh- 
bors, and  becoming  ourselves  organized  and  ex- 
tended, our  papers  becoming  established  as  a 
medium  of  intercourse,  and  questions  of  order, 
discipline,  policy,  etc.,  arising  among  ourselves 
for  discussion,  too  much  of  the  same  polemical 
spirit  and  system  of  tactics  prevailed  among  our- 
selves. We  but  register  here  what  we  believe 
to  be  a  fact,  and  do  it  with  profound  regret,  that 
the  oldest  habitual  and  most  useful  writers 
among  us  now,  are  not  the  least  addicted  to  the 
very  fault  which  we  are  considering ;  and,  at 
the  same  time  that  we  venerate  that  class  of 
men,  we  feel  that  there  is  an  apology  for  this 
weakness  in  them  that  never  ought  to  be  pleaded 
by  their  juniors.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted 
that  many  of  the  rising  generation  of  writers  are 
given  to  imitate  the  weaknesses  of  our  seniors, 
without  being  able  to  imitate  their  strength. 
Eeform,  reform,  must  be  prosecuted  in  our  cur- 
rent periodical  literature.  "If  the  man  that 
wrote  that  is  a  preacher,"  said  a  young  convert, 
on  reading  an  article  in  one  of  the  Advocates 
the  other  day,  "I  don't  want  to  hear  him  preach 
until  he  is  converted  over  again.    He  writes  as 


INTKACTIOKS  OF  THE  LAW  OF  KINDNESS.  143 

if  he  had  no  religion."  How  awfully  suggestive 
the  remark,  when  what  the  hand  puts  on  paper 
may  chance  to  be  a  living  epistle,  read  and 
known  of  all  men  until  the  judgment !  How 
true,  also,  to  the  Bible  was  the  sentiment  of  this 
young  brother !  "He  that  saith  he  is  in  the 
light,  and  hateth  his  brother,  is  in  the  darkness 
until  now."  Brethren,  have  we  forgotten  that 
our  "words  do  eat  as  doth  a  canker?"  and 
that  it  is  the  "  soft  answer  that  turneth  away 
wrath?" 


14A:   HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 


CHAPTER  XY. 

THE  LAW  OF  FORGIVENESS. 

REVENGE    ALWAYS    A   VICE  —  ANECDOTE    OP    COL.  GARDINER  

REVENGE     PERPETUATES,     BUT     FORGIVENESS  EXTERMINATES 

WRONG — REACTING  POWER  OF  REVENGE  SMALL  RESENTMENTS 

SINFUL  THE     FACT    ILLUSTRATED  —  LEGAL    PUNISHMENT  OP 

CRIMINALS  NOT  REVENGE  —  SUGGESTIVE  PRINCIPLES  FORGIVE- 
NESS  AND   MERCY  FORGIVENESS  ESSENTIAL  TO  REVIVALS  

SOLEMNITY  OF  THE  SUBJECT. 

The  Gospel  absolutely  forbids  every  form  of 
revenge.  And  yet,  with  a  heart  uncontrolled  by 
grace,  this  is  one  of  the  strongest  natural  impulses 
of  our  depravity.  To  perfectly  shun  this  sin, 
requires  a  steady  perseverance  in  self-denial,  as 
rare,  we  fear,  as  it  is  ennobling  and  elevating  in 
the  Christian  character.  'No  man  was  ever  a 
great  man,  not  to  say  a  good  one,  who  could  not 
afford  to  forgive  an  enemy,  to  overcome  evil 
with  good.  The  pious  Col.  Gardiner  was  once 
insufferably  insulted  by  a  rash  upstart  of  an  in- 
ferior officer.  Though  his  sword  hung  by  his 
side,  with  steady  nerve  and  dignified  meekness, 
he  drew  his  handkerchief  from  his  pocket,  and 
wiped  the  spittle  from  his  face,  remarking, 


THE  LAW  OF  FORGIVENESS.  145 

"Young  man,  could  I  wipe  thy  blood  from  my 
conscience  as  easily  as  I  can  wipe  thy  foul 
saliva  from  my  face,  I  had  killed  thee  in  a  mo- 
ment." At  first,  his  friends  poured  contempt 
upon  his  rigid  Christian  principles,  but  when 
they  saw  the  young  man  trembling  and  sneak- 
ing away  to  write  an  apology,  they  felt  that  they 
were  in  the  presence  of  a  transforming  greatness, 
heavenly  and  sublime.  Kevenge  perpetuates 
the  very  evil  which  it  seeks  to  cure,  while  for- 
giveness alone  puts  a  stop  to  its  ravages.  How 
strikingly  is  this  illustrated  in  the  life  of  the 
savage,  where  no  less  than  deadly  revenge  for 
injuries  is  ever  thought  of.  A  family  feud  may 
boil  for  centuries,  until  the  two  tribes,  under 
their  respective  chieftains,  may  both  become 
swallowed  up  in  the  fiery  maelstrom  of  revenge. 
In  civilized  life,  revenge  may  assume  types  less 
savage,  but  not  less  deadly  in  its  hate,  and  scarce- 
ly less  fatal  in  its  effects.  The  man  who  pursues 
revenge,  is  pursuing  a  fiery  flying  serpent  over 
deserts  barren  of  the  emblems  of  affection  and 
hope,  and  whatever  the  consequences  to  his 
victim,  that  serpent  will  finally  return  and  nestle 
in  his  own  bosom.  The  eternal  law  of  God  can 
no  more  be  violated  with  impunity,  than  could 

one  leap  from  a  precipice,  expecting  that  the 
10 


146  HELPS  TO  THE*  PROMOTION  OF  KEVTVALS. 

laws  of  gravity  would  be  suspended  for  his  safe 
descent.  "  If  ye  forgive  not  men  their  trespasses, 
neither  will  your  heavenly  Father  forgive 
yours." 

And  here  we  would  observe,  let  no  one  pre- 
sume that  the  law  of  forgiveness  may  not  be 
violated  as  certainly  by  the  little  as  by  the 
much.  A  brother  may  have  provoked  me  to 
retaliation  in  a  matter  seemingly  trivial,  and  I 
seek  the  first  opportunity  for  retribution,  "to 
be  up  with  him."  I  may  be  successful  in  my 
attempts.  The  occurrence  may  be  forgotten, 
and  yet  in  my  future  intercourse  with  that 
brother,  our  passage-at-arms  is  almost  sure  to 
have  a  resurrection.  It  is  literally  true  that  we 
forgive,  but  do  not  forget.  Reciprocal  revenge 
is  almost  sure  to  make  brethren  surround  them- 
selves, like  the  harbor  of  some  cities,  with  in- 
visible chevaux-de-frise.  Now  had  I  forborne 
taking  revenge,  I  would  have  occupied  a  vant- 
age ground  over  this  brother.  My  kindness 
would  have  disarmed  him,  and  my  example 
duplicated  itself. 

Not  only  is  revenge  so  strongly  instinctive  to 
depravity,  but,  like  the  Eden  tempter,  it  com- 
pounds its  subtle  lotion ;  it  assumes  as^  many 
forms  as  the  fabled  Proteus.  It  is  felt  to  be  sweet. 


THE  LAW  OF  FORGIVENESS. 


147 


We  sometimes  reason  ourselves  into  its  justice. 
It  is  often  thought  to  be  necessary  to  reform  an 
offender.  Let  the  student  of  Christian  ethics 
carefully  scrutinize,  in  the  light  of  the  Gospel, 
these  false  maxims.  "  If  thine  enemy  be  hungry, 
give  him  bread  to  eat;  and  if  he  be  thirsty,  give 
him  water  to  drink :  for  thou  shalt  heap  coals  of 
fire  upon  his  head,  and  the  Lord  shall  reward 
thee."  The  protection  of  society  requires  the 
legal  infliction  of  punishment  upon  the  offender. 
But  this  is  not  revenge.  It  is  justice.  By  such 
proceedings  the  sum  of  human  sufierings  is  less- 
ened. "  Much  better  that  one  suffer  than  many." 
So,  also,  there  are  circumstances  where  personal 
injury  must  needs  be  inflicted,  in  obedience  to 
the  law  of  self-preservation.  I  awake  and  smite 
the  burglar  to  death,  who,  with  hand  upon  the 
throat,  is  seeking  my  life.  The  deed  is  neither 
revenge  nor  murder.  Nor  am  I  to  be  accused  of 
inflicting  injuries,  though  he  should  prove  to  be 
my  next-door  neighbor,  and,  like  the  extraor- 
dinary Webster  case,  in  Boston,  a  lovely  and  in- 
nocent family  experience  that  life  forever 
is  shrouded  in  gloom.  Nothing  should  be 
esteemed  more  sacred  to  one  than  his  reputation, 
and  if  I  become  the  victim  of  slander,  and  noth- 
ing can  save  my  reputation  but  the  exposure 


148   HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

of  the  character  of  a  witness,  this  also  is  not  re- 
venge. But  no  limit  but  an  impossibility  should 
be  put  to  our  exertions  to  live  peaceably  with  all 
men,  whether  they  will  reciprocate  the  effort  or 
not.  "If  it  he  possible^  as  much  as  in  you  lieth, 
live  peaceably  with  all  men." 

In  accordance  with  the  last-named  principle, 
we  are  not  to  wait  for  the  brother  who  is  the  first 
offender,  to  first  propose  terms  of  reconciliation, 
but  we  are  to  admonish  him  of  his  duty,  and 
affectionately  urge  upon  him  an  interview,  and 
thus  seek  to  be  reconciled  to  our  brother.  So 
sacred  is  this  duty,  that  it  seems  almost  to  take 
precedence  of  prayer.  "  If  thou  bring  thy  gift  to 
the  altar,  and  there  rememberest  *  that  thy 
brother  hath  aught  against  thee,  leave  there  thy 
gift  before  the  altar,  and  go  thy  way ;  first  be 
reconciled  to  thy  brother,  and  then  come  and 
offer  thy  gift"  "  If  ye  forgive  men  their  tres- 
passes, your  heavenly  Father  will  also  forgive 
you." 

In  the  above,  we  have  but  announced  princi- 
ples, and  pointed  them  with  their  proof  texts. 
If  they  suggest  to  our  readers  the  same  lessons 
that  they  do  to  us,  they  will  lay  them  low  at  the 
foot  of  the  cross,  exclaiming,  "  Who,  then,  can  be 
saved  2"    Like  David,  they  will  ejaculate,  "  The 


THE  LAW  OF  FOEGIVENESS.  149 


arrows  of  the  Almighty  stick  fast  within  me." 
Alas!  who  of  us  are  not  guilty  of  revenge?  at 
least,  of  that  mitigated  and  gentler  form  called 
retaliation  ?  If  we  refuse  to  forgive  a  brother 
who  repents,  even  for  times  innumerable,  we 
cherish  the  spirit  of  revenge.  "Then  came 
Peter  to  him,  and  said,  Lord,  how  often  shall 
my  brother  sin  against  me,  and  I  forgive  him? 
till  seven  times  ?  J esus  saith  unto  him,  I  say  not 
imto  thee.  Until  seven  times;  but,  Until  seventy 
times  seven."  If  we  refuse  to  seek  to  be  recon- 
ciled to  a  brother,  who  may  have  been  the  first 
aggressor  in  the  offense,  we  are  guilty  of  revenge, 
and  have  no  claim  upon  Divine  forgiveness  until 
we  repeat.  Surely  the  Spirit  of  eternal  truth 
here  searcheth  the  heart  and  trieth  the  reins, 
and  pierceth  to  the  dividing  asunder  of  soul 
and  spirit.  Opposed  as  are  these  requirements 
to  the  natural  heart,  with  God  nothing  is  im- 
possible. Grace  strengthening  us,  we  can, 
thank  God,  tower  above  the  littleness  of  doing 
wrong,  because  a  brother,  in  some  forgetful 
or  wayward  moment,  has  sought  to  inflict  upon 
us  wrong. 

There  is  a  majesty  in  forgiveness  which  always 
elevates  the  sufferer  above  the  offender.  In  no 
act  does  man  more  imitate  his  blessed  Maker. 


150  HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  KEYIVAL8. 

"  If  any  man  have  a  quarrel  against  any,  even 
as  Christ  forgave  you,  so  also  do  ye."  Here,  for- 
giveness is  nearly  synonymous  with  that  sweet 
word,  mercy,  of  which  the  great  poet  of  nature 
has  thus  truthfully  spoken : 

*^The  quality  of  mercy  is  not  strained; 
It  droppeth  as  the  gentle  dew  from  "heaven 
Upon  the  place  beneath :  it  is  twice  blessed ; 
It  blesseth  him  that  gives,  and  him  that  takes; 
'Tis  mightiest  in  the  mightiest ;  it  becomes 
The  throned  monarch  better  than  his  crown." 

With  a  good  man,  the  occasion  of  forgiveness 
becomes  a  feast  to  his  conscience,  and  the  force 
of  his  example  restrains  men  before  him,  and 
purifies  the  moral  atmosphere  about  him.  He 
was  smitten,  but,  like  the  sandal-tree,  which  the 
ax-man  refuses  to  spare,  it  perfumes  the  air  with 
frankincense  from  its  wounds. 

The  importance  of  forgiveness  among  brethren, 
of  loving  each  other  as  little  children,  in  the 
great  work  of  revivals,  needs,  here,  no  more  than 
the  naming.  ]Vo  Church  is  ready  for  a  revival 
until  its  memhership  are  living  injpeace  with  each 
other.  Old  quarrels,  grudges,  jealousies,  bicker- 
ings, mutual  suspicions,  envyings,  and  strife, 
must  be  rolled  from  the  bosom  of  the  Church, 
just  where  Christian,  in  Bunyan,  lost  his  burden. 


THE  LAW  OF  FORGIYKNESS.  151 


And,  as  it  respects  the  fruits  of  a  revival,  they 
should  be  preserved  at  once  from  the  dry-rot  of 
revenge.  Young  converts  should  be  carefully 
taught  the  law  of  mutual  forbearance  and  for- 
giveness. The  luxuries  of  peace,  the  omnipo- 
tence of  union  among  ourselves,  and  the  God- 
conferred  title  of  the  peacemaker,  should  never 
be  lost  sight  of.  ''Blessed  are  the  peacemakei^, 
for  they  shall  be  called  the  children  of  God." 
The  young  convert  should  be  taught  never  to 
'lose  sight  of  the  manners  of  the  angels,  the 
etiquette  of  heaven.  Angels  will  not  bandy 
epithets  of  reproach,  even  with  Satan  himself. 
"  Michael  the  archangel,  when,  contending  with 
the  devil,  he  disputed  about  the  body  of  Moses, 
durst  not  bring  against  him  a  railing  accusation, 
but  said.  The  Lord  rebuke  thee,"  That  clause 
in  the  Lord's  prayer,  "  Forgive  our  trespasses,  as 
we  forgive  those  who  trespass  against  us,"  should 
never  be  repeated  but  with  a  feeling  of  con- 
sciousness that  we  love  our  enemies,  and  are 
willing  to  do  good  to  those  who  despitefully  use 
us.  But,  like  Moses  before  the  bush,  we  pause 
upon  this  holy  ground  to unsandal  our  feet;  and,  « 
like  Habakkuk,  before  his  terrible  vision  of  the 
great  God,  which  overwhelmed  him  with  con- 
fusion, and  a  sense  of  self-annihilation,  we  can 


152   HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 


do  no  more  than  say,  "  0  Lord^  I  have  heard  thy 
speech^  and  was  afraid:  O  Lord,  revive  thy 
work  in  the  midst  of  the  years ;  in  the  midst  of 
the  years  make  known;  in  wrath  remember 
mercy/' 


PIETY  THE  HOPE  OF  THE  CHUKCH.  153 


CHAPTEE  XVI. 

PIETY  THE  HOPE  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

A  WORD  TO  THE  PREACHER  — •  THE  LIFE  OR  DEATH  OF  A  CHURCH 
TO  BE  TESTED  BY  HER  FIETY  —  A  PHOSPHORESCENT  CHURCH  LIFE 
—  ELEMENTS  OP  PIETY  TREATED  OF  —  ABSURDITY  OP  DIS- 
BELIEF IN  THE  SPIRITUALITY  OF  PIETY  SPIRITUALITY  OF  THE 

HEART  ONLY  CERTAINLY  KNOWN  BY  ITS  FRUITS  —  TEMPERS  AS 
"  A  TEST  OF  SPIRITUALITY  —  CONDUCT  AND  CREED  AS  PROOFS  OP 
SPIRITUALITY  —  IMPORTANCE  OF  HOLY  TEMPERS. 

Brother  minister  in  the  glorious  work  of  revivals, 
even  at  the  risk  of  some  repetition,  we  wish  to 
press  some  thoughts  farther,  which  may  be  ap- 
propriately arranged  under  the  above  caption. 
They  may  suggest  to  you  an  appropriate  pulpit 
theme,  and  thus  aid  you  in  the  great  and  only 
work  to  which  you  so  readily  subordinate  all 
work,  the  work  of  saving  perishing  souls. . 

Piety,  that  shall  be  the  rule,  and  not  the  ex- 
ception; a  pious  pulpit;  a  pious  officiary ;  pious 
fathers,  and  mothers,  and  children ;  three  quar- 
ters of  a  million  of  Methodists,  generally,  if  not 
universally  pious!  Who  could  calculate  the 
efficacy  of  such  leaven  in  the  three  measures  of 
meal;  of  such  salt  for  a  corrupted  earth;  of  such 


154  HELPS  TO  THE  PKOMOTION  OF  EEVITALS. 

a  great  light  in  a  dark  world  ?  Piety  is  the  onljr 
principle  of  Church  life  that  makes  the  existence 
of  that  Church  conservative  and  regenerative  in 
its  effects.  It  is,  in  fact,  the  only  life  that  distin- 
guishes a  live  from  a  dead  Church.  A  dead 
Church  may  shine  by  its  doctrines  and  by  its 
learning;  but  this  light  is  phosphorescent,  and 
only  decoys  to  sloughs  of  deeper,  though  it  may 
be  more  refined  sensuality. 

We  will  speak  of  piety  as  it  respects  its 
spirituality,  its  intelligence,  motives,  and  indi- 
viduality. As  it  respects  its  spirituality,  God 
is  a  spirit,  and  acceptable  worship  can  only  be 
rendered  him  in  the  spirit.  The  fact  of  the 
Spirit's  presence  in  religion,  though  incompre- 
hensible as  to  manner,  is  quite  comprehensible 
as  to  the  fact.  It  is  a  fact  of  revelation,  and 
has  its  home  no  more  in  mystery,  than  a  thou- 
sand daily  familiar  facts  of  nature.  Any  num- 
ber of  examples  will  here  suggest  themselves  to 
the  thoughtful.  Analogy  speaks  out  in  favor  of 
the  same  great  truth.  If  the  Spirit  of  God  gar- 
nish the  heavens ;  if  it  operate,  with  or  without 
means,  on  gross  and  insensible  matter,  moving 
this  great  universe  on  its  rounds  of  harmony  and 
grandeur,  as  the  body  is  moved  by  the  soul,  is  it 
unreasonable  to  suppose  that  the  souls  of  men, 


PIETY  THE  HO:^E  OF  THE  CHUECH.  155 

God's  offspring,  may  be  quite  sensible  to  the  Spir- 
it's touch,  voice,  and  teachings  ?  Does  the  great 
heart  of  boundless  goodness  throb  up  against 
an  inanimate  clod,  and  yet,  between  that  heart 
and  an  infinitely  higher  order  of  existence,  does 
there  exist  an  impassable  gulf,  a  terrible  vacuum? 
Is  the  society  of  man,  that  embraces  humanity 
in  one  brotherhood,  and  that  sweeps  into  another 
world,  and  includes,  also,  its  unseen  population, 
to  end  this  side  of  society  with  our  Maker  ?  The 
affirmative  of  the  thought  is  an  aggravation  of 
the  crudities  and  cruelties  of  atheism.  Such  a 
view  unhearts  Christianity,  and  leaves  it  a  mere 
carcass,  to  be  ever  and  andh  galvanized  into 
mimic  life,  by  the  fervors  of  fashion  or  poetry, 
superstition  or  sentimentality.  Thank  God, 
revelation  here  stands  boldly  out.  It  pleads, 
first  of  all,  the  sinner's  sensible  communion  with 
God,  through  Christ,  by  the  aid  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  "Christ  in  you,  the  hope  of  glory." 
"  The  Spirit  beareth  witness,"  etc. 

But  the  presence  of  the  Spirit  can  only  safely 
be  judged  of  by  its  fruits.  And,  first,  these 
fruits  commence  their  growth,  and  are  seen  in 
the  moral  dispositions  of  men,  far  more,  even, 
than  in  the  rectitude  of  their  conduct ;  and,  cer- 
tainly, far  more  than  in  the  soundness  of  their 


156  HELPS  TO  THE  PBOMOTIOlSr  OF  REVIVALS. 

judgments,  or  harmony  of  their  views  on  ques- 
tions of  casuistry,  ethics,  and  doctrine.  The 
latter  have  to  do  with  the  intelligence;  the  for- 
mer with  the  moral  biases  and  emotions  of  the 
mind.  The  one  has  reference  to  what  a  man 
knows;  the  other  to  the  purity  of  his  heart. 
The  heart  can  alone  be  made  pure  by  the  Spirit. 
This  purity  the  Spirit  imparts  to  even  the  weak- 
est in  wdsdom,  the  wayfaring  man,  though  a  fool. 
The  latter  deeds  are  to  be  learned  by  efforts  of 
the  disciple:  "Take  my  yoke  upon  you,  and 
learn  of  me."    "  Search  the  Scriptures." 

We  are  brought  naturally  to  consider  intelli- 
gence as  an  element  of  strength  in  piety.  We 
prefer,  however,  to  leave  some  thoughts  upon 
this  topic,  and  the  others  above  named,  until 
the  next  chapter.  We  close  with  a  word  upon 
Christian  tempers  as  an  element  of  power  in 
Christian  example.  Here,  we  verily  believe,  is 
a  subject  of  paramount  importance  in  relation 
to  the  Church's  strength  and  aggressiveness. 
The  temper  in  which  a  deed  is  done  often  goes 
further  with  a  witness,  in  making  up  his  judg- 
ment of  one's  religion,  than  the  character  of  the 
deed  itself.  Nothing  is  more  manifest  than  this : 
if  the  dispositions  and  tempers  of  professed 
Christians  habitually  manifest  themselves  as  the 


PIETY  THE  HOPE  OF  THE  CHUECH.  157 

dispositions  and  tempers  of  the  world  around  are 
manifested,  men  will  attribute  to  such  Christians 
nothing  but  the  form  and  shell  of  Christianity. 
Let  but  the  flush  of  fretfiilness  or  anger  redden 
upon  the  cheek,  or  murmur  in  the  voice  of  the 
occupant  of  the  pulpit,  at  causes  that  should 
only  occasion  him  grief,  and  furnish  him  an  op- 
portunity for  the  exercise  of  forbearance,  and  that 
man's  preaching  is  vain.  Let  it  be  seen  that  an- 
ger burns  as  violently  in  the  bosom  of  the  pro- 
fessing and  the  praying,  and  breaks  forth  as 
readily,  when  it  is  appealed  to,  and  the  sinner 
will  silently  ask  himself,  "  How  dwelleth  the 
love  of  God  in  that  man  ?"  Let  but  the  pride 
of  opinion,  a  mere  egotism,  a  spirit  of  spite,  keep 
one  from  acknowledging  his  errors,  when  he 
has  been  clearly  proven  in  the  wrong,  whether 
these  be  errors  of  the  intellect,  or  errors  of  con- 
duct, and  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  man's  body 
a  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Let  the  man  who 
would  buy,  and  sell,  and  get  gain,  decrease  in 
liberality  as  he  increases  in  goods,  and  exhibit, 
as  he  improves  by  practice,  an  admirable  skill  at 
driving  a  bargain,  and  then  smile  triumphantly 
over  the  advantage  of  questionable  honor  which 
he  had  gained,  and  it  will  not  be  easy  to  attribute 
to  that  man  a  very  high  degree  of  spirituality. 


158  HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  KEVIYALS. 

Let  polemic  ecclesiastics  practice  sophistry  for 
the  sake  of  their  cause,  play  upon  words,  and 
commit  diversions  by  sarcastic  quibbles,  and 
practice  proving  their  points  by  illegitimate  syl- 
logisms and  false  analogies  ;  such  men  will  soon 
be  suspected  of  being  destitute  of  the  spirit  of 
truth,  as  they  certainly  will  be  suspected  of  being 
destitute  of  the  spirit  of  religion.  We  repeat  it, 
the  heart  of  man  can  be  read  more  readily  in 
his  tempers  than  in  his  actions.  These  tempers 
are  loopholes  through  wooded  landscapes,  that 
exhibit  the  sterile  background;  the  heavens 
aiigry  with  storms,  or  open  upon  flowery  lawns 
or  fruitful  fields,  over  which  bends  the  sky  in 
the  deep  blue  of  its  repose  and  purity.  Such 
are  the  relations  of  man's  tempers  and  actions. 
And  it  is  truly  remarkable,  that  among  the 
largest  enumeration  of  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit, 
found  in  the  New  Testament,  tempers,  rather 
than  actions,  are  enumerated  as  evidences  of  the 
spirituality  of  the  Christian's  character:  "But 
the  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love,  joy,  peace,  long- 
suff*ering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness, 
temperance :  against  such  there  is  no  law.  And 
they  that  are  Christ's,  have  crucified  the  flesh, 
with  the  affections  and  lusts.  If  we  live  in  the 
Spirit,  let  us  also  walk  in  the  Spirit." 


INTELLIGENCE  AS  AN  ELEMENT  OF  PIETY.  159 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

INTELLIGENCE  AS  AN  ELEMENT  OF  PIETY. 

WHAT  IS  KNOWLEDGE — DEFINITION  OF  TRUTH  WHEN  KNOWL- 
EDGE BECOMES  POWER  —  DIFFERENCE  BETWEEN  KNOWLED*GE 
AND    WISDOM  —  THE    KIND    OP    KNOWLEDGE    THE  CHRISTIAN 

SHOULD     SEEK  —  THE    BIBLE-READING    CHRISTIAN  SECURITY 

AGAINST  APOSTASY  —  THE  BIBLE  AND  POPULAR  LITERATURE  

THE  NEWSPAPER  AN  INTERPRETER  OF  THE  BIBLE  —  CHRISTIANS 
AND  THE  PROMISES, 

"I  WILL  give  you  pastoi^s  according  to  my  heart, 
which  shall  feed  you  with  knowledge  and  under- 
standing." "  My  people  are  destroyed  for  lack 
of  knowledge."  "In  everything  ye  ai'e  enrich- 
ed by  him  in  all  knowledge."  "Wisdom  and 
knowledge  shall  be  the  stability  of  thy  times, 
and  strength  of  thy  salvation." 

In  offering  some  thoughts  under  this  caption 
in  the  last  chapter,  we  spoke  principally  of  the 
spirituality  of  piety,  and  promised  to  resume  this 
subject  by  offering  some  thoughts  upon  inteUi- 
gence  as  an  element  of  power,  in  piety,  upon 
motives  and  individuality. 

Of  the  importance  of  cultivating  the  intellect 
as  well  as  the  heart,  in  a  life  of  piety,  the  Scriptures 


160  HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

just  quoted  treat  most  conclusively.  These  texts 
are  but  a  brief  selection  from  a  very  large  class. 
But  what  is  knowledge  ?  And  what  the  princi- 
pal branches  that  Christians  generally  in  private 
life  should  pursue  ?  When  one  knows  a  thing, 
the  simple  meaning  of  that  is,  he  conceives  of  a 
thing  as  it  exists.  And  as  truth  is  no  more^than 
th^  condition  of  things  as  they  exist,  such  a  man, 
as  far  as  he  goes,  has  a  knowledge  of  the  truth. 
But  this  truth  may  do  him  no  good  if  he  fail  to 
appropriate  it,  or  attempt  to  appropriate  it 
wrongly,  or  neglect  it  altogether.  Knowledge 
only  becomes  power  by  a  proper  use.  The  man 
who  makes  the  running  stream  turn  the  wheel 
of  his  mill,  or  the  wind  fill  the  sails  of  his  ship, 
must  first  know  the  laws  of  gravity  and  thc^ 
course  of  the  winds.  The  more  skillfully  tliL 
knowledge  be  applied  to  the  great  practical  pur 
poses  of  life,  the  more  wisely  are  they  applied 
Here,  then,  is  the  general  difterence  between 
the  meaning  of  the  word  knowledge  and  wis- 
dom as  employed  in  the  Scriptures.  The  one  is 
an  acquisition  of  truth,  the  other  relates  to  the 
manner  in  which  that  truth  is  employed  for  the 
benefit  of  ourselves  and  others.  A  man  of 
knowledge  is  not  always  a  wise  man,  and  the 
man  who  may  be  called  truly  wise  may  some- 


INTELLIGENCE  AS  AN  ELEMENT  OF  PIETY.  161 

times  be  very  limited  in  knowledge.  "  Great 
men  are  not  always  wise,"  and  the  wise  man  is 
very  apt  to  be  better  off  than  the  great  man ; 
hence  "  with  all  your  getting  get  wisdom." 

But  of  the  knowledge  which  the  pious  man 
should  study  constantly  to  acquire,  we  would 
not  disparage  a  knowledge  of  the  sciences;  a 
knowledge  of  nature's  great  laws,  which  will 
reveal  to  the  student  so  much  of  God,  of  his  wis- 
dom and  his  goodness.  But  it  falls  to  the  lot  of 
but  few  Christians  to  be  students  in  the  technical 
sense  of  that  word  :  far  the  larger  mass  of  good 
people  will  be  quite  limited  in  scholastic  attam- 
ments.  It  is  the  few  only  who  will  devote  their 
lives  to  the  majestic  mysteries  of  astronomy,  the 
wonders  of  chemistry,  or  the  hidden  beauties  of 
philology.  As  the  miner  reveals  the  hidden 
treasures  of  earth  for  the  rest  of  mankind,  so 
these  devotees  of  hard  study  constitute  the  few 
that  work  for  the  world  in  matters  of  science. 
All  honor  to  them.  Yet  is  there  a  common 
ground,  which  every  Christian  can  occupy  for 
the  purpose  of  adding  to  his  faith  not  merely 
virtue,  that  is,  virtuous  dispositions,  holy  desires, 
and  the  like^  hnt  knowledgre.  And  in  a  hasty 
specification  of  the  branches  of  knowledge  which 

every  Christian  should  pursue,  we  would  first 
11 


162   HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

name  the  reading  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  the 
reading  of  them  carefully,  humbly,  fervently, 
and  prayerfully  ;  all  of  which,  with  much  more, 
is  included  in  the  phrase,  "Search  the  Scrip- 
tures." The  critical  reading  of  the  sacred  text 
may  be  left  to  men  of  learning  and  of  leisure ; 
to  those  whose  business  it  is  thus  to  sift  out  the 
whole  idea  of  the  Spirit.  But  the  daily  reading 
of  the  sacred  text  without  such  helps  will  be 
found  to  the  pious  mind  a  perpetual  repast,  a 
well  of  water  springing  up  within  him  unto  ever- 
lasting life.  He  will  find  his  Bible  an  Eden, 
without  the  forbidden  tree  ;  an  Eden  in  which 
the  tree  of  life  has  been  restored.  How  many 
saints  does  biography  trace  through  life,  in  which 
the  well-thumbed  Bible,  without  note  or  com- 
ment, was  their  daily  companion,  and  found  a 
place  under  their  dying  pillow!  How  many 
men,  distinguished  for  their  learning  and  re- 
search, does  history  show  us  expressing  a  regret 
at  the  sundown  of  life  that  they  have  read  the 
Holy  Scriptures  so  little !  In  addition  to  that 
spiritual-mindedness  which  will  surround  the 
soul  of  the  daily  reader  of  the  Holy  Scriptures 
as  does  an  atmosphere  of  fragrance  the  flower, 
such  a  one  will  never  be  found  wanting  in  those 
intellectual  qualities  which  constitute  the  intel- 


INTELLIGENCE  AS  AN  ELEIVIENT  OF  PIETY.  163 

ligent  man.  Possessing,  as  do  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, a  living  freshness  of  truth,  a  perpetual 
adaptedness,  they  lead  the  mind  to  the  pursuit 
of  subordinate  and  cotemporaneous  knowledge. 
A  man  who  reads  his  Bible  diligently  will  read 
other  good  books  and  works  no  less.  He  who 
searches  the  Scriptures  will  find  them  to  be  not 
merely  a  record  of  things  past,  but  such  a  record 
as  will  prompt  him  to  a  study  of  the  present;  he 
will  understand  better,  and  take  a  deeper  inter- 
est in  the  ministrations  of  the  pulpit ;  he  will  be 
prompted  to  study  the  history,  order,  genius, 
and  workings  of  the  Church  of  which  he  is  a 
member  ;  he  will  become  in  that  edifice  a  lively 
stone ;  he  will  find  himself  feeling  the  pressure 
of  individual  responsibility.  And  as  the  best 
security  against  apostasy  is  to  keep  Christians 
hard  at  work,  he  will  find  that  his  knowledge  is 
a  fundamental  contribution  to  his  stability.  "  If 
ye  abide  in  me,  and  my  words  abide  in  you,  ye 
shall  bear  much  fruit." 

Christians  in  this  age  can  scarcely  be  said  to 
be  seriously  wanting  in  intelligence.  It  is  an 
age  of  books  and  intelligence.  God,  in  his 
providence,  seems  to  have  said,  "Let  there  be 
light,"  and  Christendom  is  radiant  from  a 
myriad  sources.    We  fear,  however,  that  Chris- 


164  HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  KEVIVALS. 

tians,  in  those  superior  mental  acquisitions 
which  constitute  so  largely  the  popular  privi- 
lege of  the  times,  do  not  begin  to  get  knowledge 
at  the  right  place.  Begin  not  with  the  news- 
paper or  the  periodical,  but  with  the  Bible. 
The  Bible  will  render  both  of  the  former  neces- 
sary. And  unlike  the  voices  of  the  seven  thun- 
ders that  were  sealed  up,  the  voices  of  the  popu- 
lar press  will  contribute  to  the  interpretation  of 
the  sacred  text,  and  Providence  will  be  seen,  in 
prophecy,  on  His  glorious  march  to  the  world's 
final  rescue.  O,  for  more  Bible-reading  Chris- 
tians! O,  for  a  Church  which,  like  the  pious 
Bereans  of  old,  should  constantly  search  the 
Scriptures,  amid  these  stirring  times,  to  see 
whether  these  things  are  so ! 

We  fear,  also,  that  Christians  err  in  not  ap- 
propriating the  knowledge  they  possess  as  they 
ought,  to  the  high  purposes  of  duty  and  holy 
living.  The  man  who  knows  the  powers  of  the 
water-wheel,  but  refuses  to  appropriate  them ; 
tlie  potency  of  steam,  but  treats  it  with  neglect, 
is  a  dwarf  in  material  progress ;  and  were  society 
generally  to  act  upon  this  principle,  it  would 
soon  relapse  into  barbarism.  Christian,  do  you 
fail  to  apply  the  promises  of  God,  with  which 
you  have  been  made  so  familiar,  from  the  Sab- 


INTELLIGENCE  AS  AN  ELEMENT  OF  PIETY.  165 

bath  school  to  the  sacred  desk,  in  the  day  of 
temptation  ?  or  do  you  refuse  to  feast  daily  upon 
this  bread,  which  comes  down  from  heaven,  to 
drink  daily  at  this  fountain,  of  which  if  a  man 
drink  he  shall  never  thirst?  Do  you  fail  to 
meditate  upon  those  holy  mysteries  of  our  sacra- 
ments, and  doctrines  of  our  creed,  which  have 
tempted  the  prying  inquiries  of  angels  ? 


166  HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION   OF  REYIYALS. 


CHAPTEE  XYin. 

MOTIVES  AND  INDIVIDUALITY  AS  ELEMENTS  OF 
PIETY. 

MOTIVES  —  DIVIDED  INTO  INNOCENT  AND  RELIGIOUS  AND  BOTH  

DISINTERESTED  BENEVOLENCE — SINISTER  MOTIVES — TWO  THINGS 

TO  BE  CONSIDERED  IN  THE  DOCTRINE  OF  MOTIVES  THE  MAN 

WHO  HANGS  OUT  HIS  OWN  SIGN  —  INDIVIDUALITY  —  A  CHARAC- 
TER FOUND  IN  THE  WAY  —  REWARD  PROPORTIONED  TO  ABILITY 

 ANECDOTE  OF  A  GREAT  GENERAL  —  THE  LONDON  MERCHANT  

IMPORTANT  LAW  OF  SPIRITUAL  GROWTH  —  REVIVAL  HELP-HINTS. 

Having,  in  previous  chapters,  spoken  of  spiritu- 
ality and  intelligence^  as  elements  of  power  in 
piety,  we  come  now  to  speak  of  the  Christian's 
motives^  and  of  his  responsibility  or  individual- 
ity. The  doctrine  of  motives  involves  the  most 
delicate  shades  of  casuistry,  the  profoundest  dis- 
tinctions in  Christian  ethics.  Much  confusion 
of  thought,  and  incorrect  judgment  of  the  con- 
duct of  our  fellows,  have  been  the  result  of  not 
understanding  when  motives  are  innocent ;  when 
they  are  pious,  and  when  they  are  sinful,  or 
purely  selfish.  One  may  do  me  a  favor  simply 
to  win  my  good-will.  There  may  be  nothing 
religious  in  it,  and  yet,  at  the  same  time,  there 


MOTIVES,  INDIVIDUALITY,  ETC.  167 

may  be  nothing  wrong  in  it ;  it  is  an  innocent 
motive.  Another  may  do  me  a  favor,  both  to 
obtain  my  good- will,  but,  first  and  foremost,  in 
the  needed  kindness  which  he  bestowed  upon 
me,  he  sought  the  glory  of  God,  and  was  ac- 
tuated by  a  sense  of  duty  to  him.  Here  the 
motive,  in  some  sense,  doubled  itself,  and  yet  it 
was  purely  religious.  A  brother  may  give 
largely  of  his  means  for  the  erection  of  a  place 
of  worship  near  his  own  dwelling,  or  where  such 
an  improvement  will  advance  the  price  of  his 
lands,  and  he  may  be  properly  enough  influ- 
enced by  these  motives,  and  yet  these  minor 
motives  may  be  so  subordinated  to  the  higher, 
that  they  may  be  perfectly  righteous  before 
God.  One  of  the  most  common,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  one  of  the  most  grossly  uncharitable 
views  which  we  can  take  of  the  motives  of  our 
brethren,  is  to  suppose  them  always  selfish, 
whenever  they  seem  prompted  by  temporal  in- 
terest, though  the  object  to  be  promoted  is  pure- 
ly a  righteous  one.  The  phrase  "  disinterested 
benevolence,"  is  only  comparative  in  its  mean- 
ing. The  Almighty  never  designed  us  to  do 
right  without  promoting  our  own  interest.  And 
he  who  pretends  to  have  lost  sight  of  this,  of 
having  become  wholly  insensible  to  it,  is  simply 


168   HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  KEVIVALS. 

a  fanatic,  as  his  own  betrayed  selfisliness  will 
soon  prove. 

There  are  purely  selfish  and  sinful  motives. 
Men  may  be  stimulated  to  deeds  of  goodness, 
wholly  from  the  hope  of  gain.  They  may  pam- 
per you  with  kindness,  and  load  you  with  favors 
that  they  may  the  more  readily  make  you  their 
victim.  How  fearfully  prominent  among  men 
are  the  workings  of  such  motives !  How  dis- 
gusting are  they  to  magnanimous  goodness ! 
How  offensive  to  piety,  and  to  that  God  who 
searcheth  the  heart  and  trieth  the  reins!  How 
careful  should  we  be  to  scrutinize  our  motives ! 
"Thou,  God,  seest  me,"  like  the  voice  of  the 
great  sea  in  the  shell  of  its  shore,  should  dwell 
in  our  souls  as  a  living  whisper  of  warning. 

In  the  doctrine  of  motives,  then,  two  things 
should  always  be  carefully  considered.  First, 
we  should  prayerfully  and  impartially  scrutinize 
our  own.  Secondly,  we  should  be  as  cautious  as 
the  foot  of  sensitive  veneration  when  walking 
among  graves,  while  sitting  in  judgment  on  those 
of  others.  "Judge  not,  that  ye  be  not  judged." 
The  man  who  is  always  criticising  the  motives  of 
others,  hangs  out  his  own  sign.  He  speaks 
from  experience.  He  may  judge  wrongfully  of 
others,  but  others  will  judge  rightly  of  him.  It 


MOTIVES,  mDIVrDUALITY,  ETC.  169 

is  a  very  low  view  to  take,  of  even  unregener- 
ate  human  nature,  to  suppose  it  incapable  of 
being  prompted  to  worthy  deeds  by  motives 
destitute  of  piety,  and  yet  these  motives  be  in 
themselves  innocent  and  honorable.  But  that 
readiness  to  attribute  to  our  Irrethren  sinister 
motives  for  all  that  they  do  and  say,  is  a  very 
unsightly  grace. 

By  individuality^  as  an  element  of  strength  in 
piety,  we  mean,  first,  that  all  that  voluntary  hu- 
mility or  mock  piety  that  induces  one  to  disclaim 
all  influence  or  power  in  matters  of  religion,  etc., 
claiming  that  he  is  a  mere  binnacle  on  the  old 
ship  Zion,  should  be  ignored  and  despised.  It  is 
a  mere  excuse  for  slothfulness  in  the  vineyard  of 
the  Lord.  It  is  not  a  true  humility,  which 
always  elevates  its  possessor,  but  a  mock  lowli- 
ness, which  degrades  the  true  man,  and  makes 
the  sinner  in  him  bad-natured.  In  Church  mat- 
ters, none  are  more  ready  to  dictate  what  should 
be  done,  than  those  of  this  very  class,  who  claim 
that  they  cannot  do  anything.  Than  they, 
none  are  less  apt  to  be  contented  with  what  is 
done.  Of  such  persons  we  say,  they  are  want- 
ing in  individuality  in  matters  of  religion.  As 
they  do  nothing,  they  are  actually  worth  noth- 
ing; and  every  brother  will  find  them  very 


170  HELPS  TO  THE  PEOMOTION  OF  EEYIVALS. 

much  in  the  way  in  the  time  of  revivals.  The 
latter  fact,  however,  with  all  their  humility, 
they  are  slow  to  believe.  They  do  not  stand  up 
in  the  great  spiritual  edifice  as  supporting  pillars, 
but  obstruct  its  entrance,  or  lie  like  broken 
pews,  unfit  for  use,  yet  occupying  room.  Every 
Christian  should  remember  that  the  Church,  as 
a  whole,  is  composed  of  individuals  ;  individuals 
compose  its  primitive  elements,  as  certainly  as 
do  particles  compose  the  earth,  or  drops  the 
ocean.  Now,  every  one  of  the  self-neutralized 
elements  can  scarcely  be  compared  to  anything 
else  than  those  branches  of  the  true  vine,  which, 
from  bearing  no  fruit,  were  to  be  cast  forth  to  be 
withered  and  burned.  It  is  not  the  much  or  lit- 
tle that  individual  Christians  can  do,  that  is  to  be 
at  all  taken  into  the  account,  in  the  consideration 
of  this  question,  of  individual  responsibility.  It  is 
simply  this  :  Does  the  Christian  do  what  he  can 
for  the  upbuilding  of  the  Church  and  the  conver- 
sion of  the  world?  It  is  the  ability  of  the 
Christian  to  do,  and  not  the  quantity  of  what 
he  does,  by  which  he  is  to  be  judged.  The 
widow's  mite,  or  a  cup  of  cold  water  given  to  a 
disciple,  may,  under  certain  circumstances,  rise 
into  a  sublimer  virtue  before  God,  than  the 
offering  of  a  man  who  should  endow  a  college 


MOTIVES,  INDIVIDUALITY,  ETC.  lYl 

with  a  quarter  of  a  million,  to  be  a  fountain  of 
usefulness  to  flow  on  to  the  judgment.  Let  no 
Christian,  then,  be  deterred  from  the  most  active 
efforts  in  the  walks  of  piety,  because  of  his  sup- 
posed inability.  In  the  language  of  a  great 
general,  in  reply  to  a  compliment  bestowed 
upon  him,  for  having  obtained  a  most  hazardous 
victory  :  "  Sir,  we  did  what  we  could."  This  is 
all  our  heavenly  Father  expects  of  us ;  and  all 
wlio  do  what  they  can,  occupy  the  same  plat- 
form of  honor  in  the  estimation  of  our  unerring 
Judge. 

At  the  same  time  he  so  ordains,  that  an  attempt 
to  improve  the  one  talent,  will  duplicate  it. 
Christians  who  try  to  do  something  for  the  Lord, 
will  not  long  try  unsuccessfully.  In  the  lan- 
guage of  a  successful  London  merchant :  "  My 
capital,  when  I  commenced  in  business,  consisted 
of  shillings.  I  began  at  once  to  give  a  portion 
of  the  proceeds,  in  the  form  of  pennies,  to  the 
Lord.  My  business  capital  soon  increased  to 
pounds ;  and  from  pence  I  gave  shillings,  and 
fi'om  shillings  guineas."  This  law  of  growth  in 
ability  to  do  good,  iy  doing  good^  applies  as 
well  to  matters  of  mind  as  to  matters  of  money; 
while  the  heart  that  is  perpetually  set  on  good 
deeds,  is  being  led  into  the  green  pastures,  and 


172   HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

by  the  still  waters  of  eternal  love  and  tranquillity. 
Every  brother,  we  apprehend,  who  feels  toward 
the  Church  he  would  nurse  and  vivify,  as  a 
mother  toward  her  first-born,  will  be  glad  to 
find  these  help-hints  to  the  creation  of  revival 
power. 


VARIETY  OF  MINISTERIAL  TALENT.  173 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

VARIETY  OF  MINISTERIAL  TALENT. 

For  the  want  of  remembering  the  import  of 
our  caption,  false  estimates  are  often  made  of 
ministerial  talent.  Many  are  prone  to  set  up  one 
standard  for  all.  Every  preacher  must  come  to 
their  particular  measure,  or  he  is  second-rate. 
With  some,  the  prestige  of  a  great  education, 
with  the  name  belled  with  literary  titles,  becomes 
a  charity  that  covereth  a  multitude  of  sins.  With 
another,  these  very  qualifications  excite  suspicion. 
The  college-bred  man  is  necessarily  dull,  arid, 
and  dry,  a  conclusion,  by  the  way,  as  untrue  as 
it  is  unphilosophical,  there  being  as  few  dry 
preachers  among  the  educated,  as  a  class,  as 
among  the  non-educated.  With  another,  the  rea- 
soner — the  dealer  in  syllogisms — is  the  preacher 
of  his  fancy;  while,  with  another,  the  man  is 
mere  mediocre  unless  he  can  deal  in  flights  of 
fancy,  flowers  of  rhetoric,  and  gorgeous  and 
original  creations  of  the  imagination.  With 
another,  (and  he  is  the  representative  of  a  very 


174  HELPS  TO  THE  PKOMOTIOX  OF  RETITALS. 

large  class,)  the  preacher  is  always  perfection,  no 
matter  how  prosy,  diffuse,  and  superficial  his 
thoughts,  if  he  be  but  only  able  to  burn  himself 
out  of  the  brush  at  last ;  in  other  words,  if  some 
fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  of  the  conclusion  of 
his  sermon  be  employed  in  the  highly  impas- 
sioned. TVith  another,  the  eccentric  man  is  the 
model  of  pulpit  excellence ;  he  abounds  in 
flashes  of  wit,  quaint  sayings,  facetious  anecdotes, 
etc.,  etc.  I  am  for  the  learned  preacher,  says 
one  ;  I  am  afraid  of  the  man  who  preaches  from 
his  learning,  says  another  ;  I  am  for  the  man  who 
makes  me  think,  says  another ;  I,  for  him  who 
makes  me  cry,  says  another ;  and  I  for  him  who 
makes  me  laugh;  and  thus  it  is,  some  are  for 
Paul,  and  some  for  Apollos,  while  Christ  may  be 
forgotten  in  the  contest.  Xow,  the  truth  is,  that 
he  who  would  correctly  estimate  ministerial 
talent  and  qualification,  would  place  a  high  esti- 
mate upon  all  that  diversity  of  talent  just  repre- 
sented in  the  classes  of  ministers  referi^d  to. 
Xo  invidious  distinction  should  be  drawn.  Xo 
extolling  of  one  above  measure,  and  the  depre- 
ciation of  the  rest.  All  are  necessary.  There 
are  a  divei^sity  of  gifts."  "Were  there  but  one 
gift  for  the  pulpit,  and  that  gift  the  most  brilliant, 
men  would  soon  become  disgusted  with  it  by 


VARIETY  OF  MINISTERIAL  TALENT.  175 

reason  of  its  monotony.  Yariety  is  a  necessity  of 
the  human  mind.  We  should  be  careful,  then, 
in  speaking  of  ministers,  by  what  rule  we  esti- 
mate their  gifts.  We  may  do  them  great  in- 
justice, and  ourselves  also.  For  the  man  who 
cannot  go  and  hear  the  preacher  that  happens 
not  to  be  a  special  favorite,  or  the  brother  who 
cannot  engage  heartily  in  his  pastor's  support, 
unless  he  happen  to  be  of  the  class  of  preachers 
for  which  he  has  taken  a  particular  fancy,  are 
both  alike  guilty  of  folly.  To  expect  all  men  to 
preach  alike,  would  be  to  require  that  all  men 
be  constituted  alike.  This  is  no  more  true  to  the 
great  law  of  Providence  in  the  case,  than  it 
would  be  to  require  that  the  trees  of  the  wood 
should  all  be  of  the  same  species.  What  if  all 
forests  were  composed  of  the  sugar  maple? 
Well,  mankind  might  have  a  sweet  time,  espe- 
cially about  sugar-making  season;  but  they 
would,  undoubtedly,  soon  feel  that  it  would  be 
much  better  to  do  with  less  sugar,  and  have  a 
little  oak  and  ash  among  their  ligneous  posses- 
sions. "  There  are  a  diversity  of  gifts."  Minis- 
terial merit,  also,  should  be  estimated  in  the 
light  of  its  fruits.  It  often  happens  that  the 
very  men  upon  whose  talents  we  place  the  low- 
est estimate,  are  the  most  highly  honored  of 


176    HELPS  TO  THE  PEOMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

God  in  the  conversion  of  souls  and  the  work  of 
building  up  his  Church.  By  their  fruits  we 
should  judge  them.  But  even  in  this  there  is 
great  danger  of  mistake.  It  is  not  always  the 
brother  whose  fruits  are  among  the  most  showy 
kind  who  is  to  be  ranked  foremost  among  the 
apostles.  There  is  such  a  thing  as  '' preparing 
the  way  of  the  Lord,"  while  another,  again,  may 
herald  him,  and  in  so  doing  meet  him.  There 
is  such  a  thing  as  one  preacher  taking  care  of 
the  "  stuff "  that  another  may  have  collected. 
It  is  not  always  the  preacher  that  we  hear 
the  most  about  who  is  actually  doing  most 
for  God.  There  is  a  talent  that  works  in  silence, 
like  the  law  that  crystallizes  the  gem  in  its  un- 
discovered hiding-place.  There  are  others,  again, 
who,  like  a  summer  rain,  seldom  come  with- 
out bringing  thunder  and  lightning  with  them. 
Both  are  necessary.  "  There  are  a  diversity  of 
gifts." 

But,  after  all,  there  is  one  fact  about  the 
preacher  and  preaching,  which  may  be  men- 
tioned almost  as  a  universally  attractive  quality, 
a  quality,  we  mean,  on  which  human  nature 
everywhere  will  place  about  the  same  estimate. 
To  this  quality  we  give  the  single  title  of 
earnestness.    This  word  we  would  make  generic 


VARIETY  OF  MINISTERIAL  TALENT.  177 

of  strong  sympathy  with  an  audience,  self-for- 
getfulness  and  absorption  in  a  subject.  Such  a 
speaker  will  speak  to  men  true  to  nature,  what- 
ever be  his  degree  of  education ;  and  if  his  gifts 
be  even  but  ordinary,  men  will  flock  to  listen  to 
his  stirring  mission.  He  makes  them  feel^  and 
this  is  the  true  test  of  oratory.  The  soul  of  elo- 
quence is  feeling,  and  eloquence  can  never  have 
a  substitute.  Such  a  speaker,  if  he  be  evidently 
called  of  God,  need  fear  no  competition,  no  op- 
position. Such  a  speaker  is  the  product  of  no 
system  of  education.  Like  the  spirit  within  the 
wheels  in  the  prophet's  vision,  his  masterly  pow- 
ers are  born  with  him.  The  happy  constitution- 
ality that  makes  a  highly  earnest  preacher,  like 
the  powers  of  the  poet,  must  be  born  with  him. 
Education  may  modify  and  chasten  it,  but  so 
far  from  chilling,  it  will  become  fuel  to  the 
fire.  The  absence  of  much  education  will  not 
always  prevent  it  from  putting  forth  its  great 
power.  The  preacher  whom  education  alone 
can  make  is  seldom  worth  having  after  he 
is  made.  The  preacher  whom  education  can 
spoil  had  not  much  about  him  to  spoil.  The 
preacher  who  claims  to  be  the  better  off  be- 
cause he  never  had  educational  advantages,  is 

either  a  fanatic, .  or  else  he  has  obtained  that 
12 


178  HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

yerj  education  in  the  absence  of  these  advant- 
ages. May  God,  in  his  mercy,  give  to  the 
Church,  not  a  Paul,  not  an  ApoUos,  not  a  Bo- 
anerges, not  a  Peter,  not  a  John  alone,  but  a 
mighty  host  of  all  the  classes  represented  by 
these  revered  names.  The  Church  needs  a 
diversity  of  gifts.  But  he  who  cannot,  in  some 
goodly  degree,  manifest,  from  constitutional 
sympathy,  some  of  the  earnestness  or  unction 
above  named,  will  always  find  his  clerical 
career  a  dull  and  cool  one,  however  qualified  or 
gifted  in  other  respects.  But  the  object  of  this 
chapter,  more  especially,  is  to  rebuke  that  cap- 
tiousness  in  our  membership  that  underrates  the 
minister  who  happens  not  to  be  conformed  to 
their  model.  In  the  promotion  of  revivals  this 
will  be  found  of  the  first  moment,  especially 
when  the  mania  seizes  the  Church  of  sending 
for  some  favorite  revivalist,  a  policy  which 
generally  results  as  in  the  instance  of  John  eat- 
ing the  little  book ;  the  bitter  is  very  apt  to  fol- 
low the  sweet. 


THE  PAST  AND  PRESENT.  179 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  PAST  AND  PRESENT — A  CHARACTER. 

"  Say  not  thou.  What  is  the  cause  that  the  for- 
mer days  were  better  than  these  ?  for  thou  dost 
not  inquire  wisely  concerning  this."  This  scrip- 
ture teaches  that  there  may  be  an  erroneous  ret- 
rospect, and  deprecates  it.  A  wise  review  of 
the  past  is,  indeed,  rare.  To  come  to  a  correct 
judgment  concerning  it,  the  laws  of  the  human 
mind  must  be  well  studied.  We  are  often  de- 
ceived for  the  want  of  self-knowledge.  For  ex- 
ample :  the  remembrance  of  pleasure  is  always 
fresher  in  the  mind  than  the  remembrance  of 
pain.  A  hasty  conclusion  on  this  subject  would, 
certainly,  be  contrary  to  the  truth.  The  prin- 
ciple is  announced  by  our  Saviour,  in  his  allu- 
sions to  a  mother's  solicitude  in  the  hour  of  her 
extremity,  which,  when  over, she  remembereth 
no  more  the  anguish  for  joy."  For  the  want  of 
due  attention  to  this  principle,  there  are  many 
who  exalt  the  merit  of  the  past  over  the  present, 
and  say  that  the  "  former  days  were  better  than 


180     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  KEVIYALS. 

these."  With  them,  the  preachers  of  the  pres- 
ent are  pigmies,  compared  with  those  of  the 
past ;  and  the  piety  of  the  present  is  so  diluted 
with  pride  and  formalism  that  "  there  is  none 
that  doeth  good  ;  no,  not  one."  Our  churches, 
with  steeples,  are  not  as  sacred  as  the  former 
cabins  of  logs,  which  they  have  superseded  ;  and 
cushioned  pews  are  much  harder  than  rude 
benches.  Our  class-meetings  have  all  died  out; 
our  prayer- meetings  will  soon  call  for  obituary 
notices  ;  the  Church  is  getting  proud  ;  the  world 
waxing  worse  than  ever ;  and  it  is  as  if  Satan's 
chain  had  been  loosed  for  a  little  season. 
"  Why,  w^e  used  to  know  every  IVTethodist  man  by 
his  dress,  every  Methodist  woman  by  her  bon- 
net, and  the  despised  Methodists  had  come  out 
from  among  the  world.  They  were  not  of  it, 
and  were  not,  as  now,  like  it.  They  then  under- 
stood this  scripture,  'Come  out  from  among 
them,  and  be  ye  separate.'  We  got  happy  at 
every  meeting.  The  Church  was  in  a  state  of 
continual  revival.  Sinners  were  flocking  to  it  by 
scores  and  hundreds,  like  doves  to  the  windows. 
O,  those  were  joyful  days!  We  don't  have 
such  times  nowadays ;  and  it  must  be  that  the 
Church  is  backslidden."  Here  our  croaking 
narrator  heaved  a  sigh,  and,  suiting  the  action  to 


THE  PAST  AND  PRESENT. 


181 


the  word,  he  pointed  toward  the  place  where  he 
attended  meeting  with  a  long,  lank  finger,  com- 
pressed his  thin  lips  ,over  a  large  mouth,  and 
threw  himself  forward,  shrugging  his  shoulders 
as  if  he  felt  chilled  to  the  heart  with  the 
Church's  moral  apostasy.  After  a  groan  or  two, 
he  resumed :  "  The  extravagance  of  our  preach- 
ers and  their  families,  why,  don't  you  think,  it 
never  used  to  cost  us  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
dollar  for  quarterage,  and  now  they  want  me  to 
pay  five  dollars  a  year  for  the  support  of  the 
Gospel,  and  throw  in  something  at  a  public  col- 
lection every  Sunday  besides.  Well,  I  wish  I 
had  died  before  old-fashioned  Methodism  was 
done  away  with ;"  and  here  he  put  his  hand  in 
his  pocket,  and  we  left  our  brother  to  his  cen- 
sorious cogitations  and  went  on  our  way,  indulg- 
ing a  few  thoughts.  This  brother  has  wholly 
overlooked  the  thousand  and  one  little  draw- 
backs upon  that  millennium  of  his  fancy,  in  the 
past,  his  belief  in  which  wholly  unfits  him  for 
the  present.  If  preachers  preached  so  much 
better  and  abler  then  than  now,  the  proof  is 
wanting.  If  human  nature  in  those  days  would 
have,  or  did  always  guard  against  an  apostolic 
altercation,  and  keep  a  Judas  out  of  the  college 
of  the  evangelists,  then  was  it  holier  than  inspi- 


182   HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

ration  ever  made  it.  If  there  was  no  pride 
taken  even  in  plainness,  no  glorying  in  the  evi- 
dences of  one's  humility  in  those  pahny  days  of 
primitive  simplicity,  then  the  Methodism  of 
thirty  years  ago,  devoted  and  exalted  as  it  v^^as, 
has  fallen  very  fast.  If  the  rude  conveniences 
for  worship  were  more  promotive  of  piety  than 
the  more  tasty  provisions  of  the  present,  then 
penance  is  a  virtue.  If  strife  among  brethren, 
neighborhood  tattle,  Church  trials,  insubordina- 
tion, secession,  hypocrisy,  and  Phariseeism,  were 
never  found  to  infest  the  Church  in  those  palmy 
days,  when  Sabbath  schools  were  nearly  un- 
known, when  our  people  had  not  the  books  and 
newspapers  to  read  they  have  now — had  not  the 
material  for  their  thought,  nor  the  same  motives 
to  be  diligent  in  business — then  history  has  slan- 
dered them,  and  human  nature,  under  the  rule 
of  "  Young  America,"  seems  to  have  become 
something  other  than  what  it  was.  And  as  to 
the  little  then  required  to  support  the  Gospel  and 
our  institutions,  five  dollars  can  now  be  as  easily 
raised  as  the  twentieth  part  of  it  then.  And  as 
to  the  sweeping  assertion  of  the  Church's  apostasy, 
is  not  God  the  same,  Christ  the  same,  the  Gos- 
pel the  same  ?  Have  not  faith  and  prayer  the 
same  prevailing  power  ?  and  do  we  not  resort  to 


THE  PAST  AND  PRESENT. 


183 


the  same  sources  and  employ  the  same  means? 
and  is  not  the  same  end  present?  Most  cer- 
tainly. But  our  brother's  erroneous  retrospect 
is  working  a  mighty  mischief  in  his  moral  sen- 
timents. He  judges  not  wisely  of  the  past,  and 
hence  he  is  unprepared  to  appreciate  the  pres- 
ent. Have  our  readers  ever  met  with  this  char- 
acter? 

Our  brother  in  the  work  of  promoting  revi- 
vals will,  we  fear,  often  meet  with  this  character, 
much  to  his  annoj^ance.  We  here  send  him  a 
daguerreotype  likeness,  that  he  may  find  no 
difficulty  in  identifying  him. 


184:    HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 


CHAPTEE  XXI. 

PASTORAL  VISITING. 

THE  FOOLISH  PHYSICIAN  AND  PREACHER  CONTRASTED — HOW  POWER 

MAY  BE  COLLECTED  FOR  THE  PULPIT  JOHN  B.  GOUQH  THE 

PEOPLE  TO  BE  SEEN  AT  THEIR  HOMES  A  GOOD  PASTOR  SELDOM 

IMPUTED  AN  INFERIOR  PREACHER  THE  PREACHER  WHO  CANNOT 

VISIT  ANECDOTE  OF  THE   CRIMEA  THE  MODEL  TEACHER  A 

MODEL  PASTOR  HEARTS  ARE  TO  BE  READ  AS  WELL  AS  BOOKS. 

What  would  be  thought  of  the  physician,  who 
was  wont  to  prescribe  for  his  patients  without 
acquainting  himself  with  their  symptoms,  pre- 
scribe upon  the  principles  of  physiology  common 
to  all?  Whatever  his  skill,  would  he  not  lose 
both  patients  and  practice  ?  Now,  the  pastor, 
whose  business  it  is  to  raise  up  a  spiritual  flock, 
who  neglects  personal  intercourse  with  them  for 
religious  purposes,  who  neglects  to  look  into 
their  spiritual  symptoms,  their  individualisms,  and 
idiosyncrasies  of  experience,  acts  in  spiritual 
matters  precisely  as  this  physician  in  medicinal. 
Pastoral  visitation  is  an  essential  of  success. 
The  pulpit  will  always  be  found  borrowing  from 
it  its  principal  power.  The  most  effective  dis- 
courses are  those  in  which  the  speaker  seems 


PASTORAL  VISITING. 


185 


best  acquainted  with  the  tjioiights  and  experi- 
ences of  the  hearers.  He  seems  to  thread  those 
thoughts,  to  be  famihar  with  the  hearers'  private 
emotions,  secret  temptations,  and  little  or  great 
solicitudes.  He  is  full  also  of  anecdote  and  il- 
lustration, taken  fresh  from  the  life  of  the  hour. 
Such  a  preacher  everybody  will  hear  gladly. 
This  power  of  secretly  learning  from  the  people 
what  they  need  to  be  told,  is  not  peculiar  to  the 
pulpit.  The  popular  lecturer  resorts  to  these  re- 
sources for  his  thunder.  A  Gough,  Brown,  and 
others,  will  be  found  collecting  through  the  day 
by  observance  and  intercourse,  the  principal,  and, 
probably,  the  most  interesting  material  of  their 
lectures  for  the  evening.  The  most  important 
part  of  a  preacher's  study,  is  to  study  his  people. 
His  books  are  walking  books.  Far  the  largest 
portion  of  his  library  will  speak  out  to  him,  and 
that  voice  in  the  power  which  it  may  impart  to 
him  may  be  as  the  voice  from  heaven  which 
John  heard.  Intercourse  with  individuals  of  his 
flock  never  fails  to  endear  them  to  him.  The 
preacher  is  not  presumed  to  be  a  common  friend. 
The  sacredness  of  his  office  encourages  familiarity 
when  he  has  once  made  the  first  advances  as 
their  spiritual  adviser  and  sympathizer,  and  thus 
it  is  that  such  friendship  ripens  into  confidence 


186   HELPS  TO  THE  PEOMOTION  OF  EEVIYALS. 

and  intimacy.  O  !  what  a  multitude  of  defects 
in  the  pulpit  exhibitions  of  such  a  preacher  will 
such  a  relation  to  his  flock  cover.  Hence  it  is, 
that  the  preacher  who  visits  is  never  found  an 
unpopular,  and  seldom  an  unsuccessful  preacher. 
These  visits  should  be  made  to  the  houses  of  the 
people ;  "  from  house  to  house,"  are  the  words  of 
Paul's  journal  in.  his  pastoration.  The  farmer 
can  indeed  be  seen  in  his  field,  the  shoemakQr 
on  his  bench,  the  mechanic  at  his  plane,  and  the 
merchant  at  his  desk,  and  it  is  all  .well,  but  not 
well  enough.  Would  the  pastor  occupy  a  vant- 
age-ground of  power?  Let  him  seek  the  hearth- 
side  and  the  cradle-side;  let  him  be  seen  among 
the  children,  no  matter  how  lowly  that  home. 
Circumscribed  as  were  the  fishermen's  huts  of 
Galilee,  that  so  often  sheltered  Christ,  squalid 
and  repulsive  from  nameless  circumstances,  it 
may  be,  yet  in  this  act,  like  the  symbolic 
horn  in  Habakkuk's  vision,  is  the  hiding  of  his 
power.  His  call  will  be  appreciated,  perhaps,  as 
a  condescension.  His  anxious  inquiries  about  the 
welfare  of  the  family,  temporal  as  well  as  spirit- 
ual, will  win  their  hearts.  The  lonely  mother, 
whose  every  hour  of  life  is  engrossed  with  the 
care  of  a  swelling  group  of  children,  and  who 
has  to  battle  hard  and  long  with  intruding  want, 


PASTORAL  VISITING. 


18T 


feels  that  a  friend  has  come,  and  the  balm  of  a 
sympathizing  heart  strengthens  her  afresh  for 
her  task  and  her  trials.  The  young  husband  and 
father  on  whom  the  fortunes  of  life  have  not 
yet  smiled  very  propitiously,  and  around  whose 
soul  the  murky  cloud  of  despondence  has  at 
times  essayed  to  unfold  itself,  feels  at  once,  here 
is  a  good  man  that  careth  for  me.  How  like  tow 
before  the  fire  is  opposition  to  such  moral  power, 
a  power  given  to  the  pastor.  O,  fearful  respon- 
sibility !  If  the  persons  thus  visited  are  Church 
members,  it  often  becomes  a  new  hegira  in 
their  spiritual  history.  If  not  members,  they 
are  secured  as  respecters  and  hearers.  Nor  are 
the  pastor's  visits  less  appropriate,  though  at 
times,  perhaps,  less  powerful  in  their  effects  at 
the  homes  of  the  more  fortunate  and  the  rich. 
Every  man  feels  that  when  you  seek  him  at  his 
own  home  to  do  him  good,  you  have  taken  a  step 
80  bold  that  it  becomes  him  to  believe  you  in 
earnest.  The  law  of  hospitality  diffuses  the  at- 
mosphere of  courtesy  about  the  interview,  and 
the  mutual  restraint  under  which  both  are  placed, 
prepares  the  way  for  appropriate  caution  and 
reciprocal  kindness.  Under  such  circumstances, 
the  warnings  of  the  Gospel  and  the  lessons  of 
piety,  delivered  in  none  of  the  cant  of  the  sect, 


188   HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  EEYITALS. 

in  no  spirit  of  obtrusiveness  or  assumption,  and 
yet,  so  delivered  as  not  to  be  edgeless,  are 
often  like  the  fatal  arrow  sent  at  a  venture 
which  smote  the  King  of  Israel  between  the 
joints  of  the  harness.  In  all  our  experience, 
we  have  found  that  a  good  pastor  was  seldom 
reported  an  inferior  preacher,  while,  other 
things  being  equal,  his  success  in  revival  effort 
always  distanced  immeasurably  the  man  who 
did  not  visit. 

But  some  will  say,  I  cannot  visit,  I  have  no 
taste  nor  tact  for  it.  Xow,  such  preachers  are  a 
good  deal  like  the  nobleman's  son,  who  procured 
a  commission  and  went  to  the  Crimea.  "When 
there,  upon  the  first  whistle  of  a  bomb-shell,  he 
was  found  by  his  superior  officer,  when  he  should 
have  been  deploying  his  company,  trembling  like 
an  aspen  leaf  behind  an  embankment.  In  reply 
to  questions  asked  him,  he  stated,  that  he  had 
no  taste  whatever  for  such  business,  when  the 
opinion  becoming  mutual,  he  was  ordered  to  be 
drummed  out  of  the  army  as  a  coward,  and  sent 
home  to  his  father  as  one  out  of  his  place.  Xow, 
the  preacher  who  has  no  taste  for  visiting  is  sadly 
out  of  his  place.  Had  he  accompanied  the 
Saviour  while  on  earth,  his  tastes  would  certainly 
have  been  subjected  to  many  severe  tests,  for  the 


PASTOKAL  VISITING. 


189 


Saviour's  public  ministry  was  more  than  two 
thirds  made  up  of  personal  intercourse  and  con- 
versation with  those  about  him,  while  the  asylums 
of  wretchedness,  the  rendezvous  of  want  and 
poverty,  were  his  most  common  places  of  resort. 
Sleeping  to-night  in  the  house  of  Peter,  to-mor- 
row night  in  that  of  Lazarus  of  Bethany,  and 
spending  the  next  in  the  mountains  for  prayer, 
are  specimens  of  his  itinerant  pastoration.  He 
began  with  the  lower  strata  of  society,  and 
commenced  to  work  up.  The  poor  had  the 
Gospel  preached  to  them,  and  common  people 
heard  him  gladly.  How  wise  this  philosophy 
that  commenced  its  mission  to  the  poor  and  to 
the  common  people.  It  is  among  them,  that  if 
reforms  be  not  the  most  needed,  all  permanent 
reforms  must  begin.  Pampered  conservatism 
never  does  anything  for  the  world.  Those  who 
are  up  in  the  world  seldom  care  how  the  rest  of 
it  goes.  We  are  not,  then,  to  look  among  the 
high  places  of  wealth  and  power  for  movements 
in  favor  of  humanity.  Earthquakes  do  not  com- 
mence on  the  tops  of  mountains.  There  is  no 
shaking  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  in  which 
the  foundations  are  not  first  moved.  It  is  the 
common  people  whose  respect,  sympathies,  love, 
and  confidence,  the  pastor  should  first  seek. 


190    HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  KEVIYALS. 

And  he  who  shuns  the  lowest  spectacle  of  human 
wretchedness,  who  shuns  annoying  ignorance, 
who  turns  away  from  the  low  hovel  of  poverty, 
looks  in,  but  scarcely  deigns  to  enter  the  house 
of  competence ;  but  seeks  ease  with  book  in  hand 
upon  the  sofa  of  palatial  riches,  might  better 
study,  de  novo^  the  minister's  great  model,  or  else 
remember  the  example  of  the  nobleman's  son, 
as  appropriate  to  himself. 

But,  says  another,  how  can  I  visit  and  study 
too  ?  In  the  first  place,  the  lessons  of  the  human 
heart,  the  phase  of  human  condition  you  learn 
in  visiting,  constitute,  as  above  intimated,  an 
essential  part  of  your  studies,  and  with  a  proper 
husbandry  of  time,  you  can  read  books  enough 
as  well  as  to  read  hearts.  If  you  have  been  so 
unfortunate  as  to  enter  the  ministry  prematurely, 
as  to  be  destitute  of  an  elementary  knowledge 
of  your  profession,  as  we  regret  to  say  many 
have,  you  must  contend  with  this  diflaculty  as 
best  you  can.  But  it  will  not  lessen  it  a  whit  to 
closet  yourself  in  your  library  and  forbear  inter- 
course with  the  people.  If  the  great  poet  of 
nature  could  find 

"  Books  in  running  brooks, 
Tongues  in  trees,  sermons  in  stones, 
And  good  in  everything," 


PASTORAL  VISITING. 


191 


he  must  be  a  dull  learner  who  cannot  glean 
something  through  the  week  from  the  flashes  of 
an  anxious  eye,  from  the  throbbing  of  a  hopeful 
or  a  sorrowful  heart,  from  the  tale  of  misfortune, 
the  story  of  bereavement  and  buried  love,  which 
he  may  learn  by  intercourse  with  his  flock,  and 
which,  mingled  with  the  lessons  of  duty,  of  piety, 
or  of  Gospel  promises,  shall  not  infuse  grace  into 
his  lips  for  the  Sabbath,  and  make  his  words  like 
the  refreshing  odors  of  the  old  sanctuary.  As 
with  the  eyes  of  the  fabled  Argus,  the  pastor 
should  scan  the  appearance  of  his  flock,  and  seek 
at  the  earliest  possible  convenience,  a  personal 
acquaintance  with  each.  "What  means  that 
Scripture,  where  the  shepherd  who  had  a  hun- 
dred sheep  lost  one  of  them  ?  The  ninety  and 
nine  were  temporarily  abandoned,  and  the  stray- 
ing member  of  the  flock  sought  until  it  was 
found,  borne  home  in  triumph  upon  the  shoulder, 
and  thus  the  number  kept  good.  The  preacher 
who  works  for  a  revival  and  neglects  the  pas- 
toral work,  is  a  workman  that  needeth  to  be 
ashamed. 


192     HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTIOl^  OF  BEVTVALS. 


CHAPTER  XXIL 

PASTORAL  VISITING. 

PASTORAL    AND    SOCIAL    VISITING  —  THE    PASTOR   THE  COMMON 

PROPERTY  OF  ALL — BEING    INSTANT    IN  SEASON  THE  SICK 

BOOM  EMERGENCES  —  DEATH      IN      A      FAMILY  —  FUNERAL 

SERMONS  DUE  REFERENCE  TO  BE  HAD    TO  THE  CUSTOMS  OF 

SOCIETY. 

We  would  distinguish  between  pastoral  and 
social  visiting.  Nor  do  we  see  any  necessity  why 
the  pastor  should  forego  the  usual  pleasures  and 
proprieties  of  the  social  circle.  We  would  not 
be  fastidious  here.  Our  Saviour  performed  his 
first  miracle  at  a  festive  and  highly  social  occa- 
sion. But  while  the  Saviour  thus  revealed  his 
true  character  amid,  perhaps,  the  exuberance  of 
hilarity,  if  not  mirth,  so  a  minister  on  any  social 
occasion  where  he  may  chance  to  be  a  guest, 
should  never  lose  sight  of  his  true  character ; 
and  on  all  social  occasions  in  which  a  minister 
may  appropriately  engage,  the  circle  should  never 
be  broken  up  without  proposing  prayer.  Nor 
would  we  deprive  the  minister's  family  of  the 
privilege  of  choosing  their  own  associates  with 


PASTORAL  VISITING.  193 

becoming  propriety,  just  because  it  becomes  the 
bead  of  that  family  to  become  all  things  to  all 
men.  The  law  of  caste,  to  a  greater  or  a  less  de- 
gree, obtains  in  all  conditions  of  society ;  and  as 
it  respects  intimate  social  intercourse,  not  always 
without  propriety.  But  the  preacher,  as  a  pas- 
tor, belongs  to  no  caste  or  class ;  he  is  neither  an 
aristocrat  nor  a  democrat.  The  most  refined  and 
the  most  elevated  in  society  will  only  esteem  him 
the  more  highly  by  knowing  that  his  earliest  at- 
tentions are  given  to  those  in  the  lowliest  walks 
of  life.  If  they  estimate  his  character  properly, 
they  will  expect  to  find  him  the  most  frequently 
where  his  services  are  the  most  needed.  He  is 
governed  by  none  of  those  distinctions  in  society 
that  are  so  wont  to  obtain.  He  is  equally  the 
honored  guest  of  education,  opulence,  and  power; 
though  yesterday,  like  Doctor  Clarke,  he  dined  on 
potatoes  in  a  mud  hut  with  one  of  his  delighted 
parishioners.  Here  is  he  furnished  with  a  pecu- 
liar and  unconfined  power  of  usefulness. 

Nor  do  we  mean,  by  pastoral  visiting,  those 
hasty  professional  calls  made  by  some,  and  which 
pass  under  that  name.  We  have  known  some 
preachers  whose  object  seemed  to  be  to  see  how 
many  families  they  could  call  upon  in  the  short- 
est given  time  possible*    One  young  brother 


194:  HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

boasted  to  us  once  that  he  had  made  ten  pas- 
toral visits  in  an  hour,  and  prayed  in  every 
house.  We  have  no  confidence  in  such  a  course. 
Such  visits  are  mere  ofiicial  and  dead,  wanting 
in  the  living  freshness  of  a  sympathetic  heart, 
and  can  do  but  little  good.  Nothing  is  more 
inappropriate  or  rude  than  an  undue  haste  in  the 
discharge  of  so  holy  a  duty.  But  it  may  be  ob- 
jected that  great  haste  is  necessary,  or  but  few 
families  can  be  visited.  The  answer  to  this  ob- 
jection is,  attach  the  importance  to  the  work 
which  it  demands,  commence  in  time.  Visit  a 
few  families  daily,  and  you  will  soon  have  the 
privilege  of  saying  of  your  flock,  "  My  sheep 
know  my  voice." 

Most  especially  should  the  pastor  avail  him 
self  of  special  occasions  to  be  present  in  the  fam 
ilies  of  his  parishioners.  Has  some  misfortune, 
befallen  one  of  them  ?  Let  him  be  the  first  to 
tender  condolence  and  sympathy,  and  suitable 
lessons  of  submission.  Sickness,  it  may  be,  with 
her  wan  countenance,  her  sunken,  sallow  eye, 
her  skeleton  frame,  her  nights  of  restlessness 
and  painful  vigils,  her  bitter  herbs  and  pungent 
agonies,  may  have  become  the  dread  inmate  of 
a  family.  Its  head,  perhaps,  may  be  slowly 
sinking  into  the  grave,  or  some  favorite  son,  to 


PASTORAL  VISITING. 


195 


whom  health  seemed  almost  guaranteed,  may 
have  been  suddenly  smitten  down  by  a  dire  ail- 
ment ;  or  a  lovely  daughter,  the  pride  and  hope  of 
the  family,  may  have  become  a  victim  of  that 
slow,  but  certain  slaughterer  of  worth  and  beauty, 
the  consumption.  Here  is  a  household  of  heavy 
hearts,  a  house  whose  rooms  are  dark  at  noon, 
and,  over  whose  threshold  the  foot  learns  to 
fall  with  lightened  tread.  Here  a  fond  mother 
strives  to  suppress  her  grief  by  the  side  of  pain 
and  pining  love,  but  hastens  away  to  her  closet 
to  weep  and  to  pray.  Now  right  here  it  is  that 
the  preacher  should  hear  the  voice  once  spoken 
to  the  Saviour,  Behold,  he  whom  thou  lovest 
is  sick."  And,  like  that  precious  Saviour,  he 
should  hasten  in  due  time  to  mingle  the  tears  of 
his  sympathy  with  grief  and  bereavement.  It 
was  over  a  scene  of  sickness  and  death  that  it  is 
recorded  of  Jesus,  "  He  wept."  Good  seed  may 
be  sown  here  with  a  most  sanguine  hope  of  a 
fruitful  harvest.  There  is  nothing  like  the  loss 
of  health  to  make  one  feel  the  worthlessness  of 
the  world.  Men  will  look  up  when  drowning. 
There  is  no  cordial  to  the  sick  like  that  of  the 
frequent  attention  of  a  beloved  friend.  In  this 
dark  day  his  heart  is  to  be  won,  and  the  preacher 
who  cares  both  for  my  soul  and  body,  who, 


196  HELPS  TO  THE  PBOMOTTON  OF  REVIVALS. 

Christ-like,  is  touched  with  the  feelings  of  my 
infirmities,  will  exert  over  me  an  omnipotent 
power.  How  easily  and  appropriately,  too,  can 
that  pastor,  when  acquainted  with  the  wants  of 
that  sick  family,  bring  their  cases  before  God  in 
his  prayers  in  the  pulpit,  and  thus  bend  the 
whole  social  heavens  of  the  neighborhood  in 
sympathy  over  them.  What  efi^ect  will  such  at- 
tentions have  upon  a  wayward  son  of  that  fam- 
ily ?  Long  will  the  remembrance  of  it  linger 
like  the  fragrance  of  grace  in  the  memories  of 
the  survivors  of  that  family  after  the  pastor  is 
gone.  If  visiting  the  sick  is  written  by  inspira- 
tion as  a  fruit  of  pure  and  undefiled  religion  on 
the  part  of  Christians  in  common,  what  is  to  be 
thought  of  the  pastor  who  would  not  make  a 
special  exertion  to  pray  by  the  bedside  of  the 
sick,  and  to  be  ranked  among  the  most  active 
sympathizers  ?  It  may  sometimes  happen  that 
bread  literally,  as  well  as  bread  spiritually,  is 
needed  at  the  house  of  the  sick.  Few  can  make 
these  delicate  discoveries  better  than  the  faithful 
pastor;  and  if  it  be  not  in  his  immediate  power 
to  supply  the  want,  he  possesses  special  ability 
to  influence  the  action  of  others.  It  is  scarcely 
less  necessary  at  times  to  win  souls  to  Christ  by 
loaves  and  fishes  than  by  expostulations  and  pray- 


PASTORAL  VISITING. 


197 


ers.  The  two  must  often  go  together.  As  taught 
in  our  Discipline,  and  indicated  in  our  love- 
feasts,  the  Church  should  take  care  of  her  poor ; 
and  pastoral  visitation  is  essential  to  the  dis- 
charge of  this  duty.  Let  the  preacher,  then, 
who  would  slowly  but  surely  accumulate  a  re- 
vival force  in  his  flock ;  who  would  combine  all 
those  elements  of  force  into  one  glorious  whole, 
and  win  a  victory  to  his  Lord,  study  well  the 
momentous  duty  of  pastoral  visiting ;  study  it 
in  its  principles  and  in  its  details ;  study  well 
when  and  how  these  visits  will  be  Inade  the  most 
effectual,  remembering  that  man's  extremity  is 
God's  opportunity. 

A  death  in  a  family  is  a  voice  from  eternity. 
There  is  no  grief  so  utterly  annihilating  as  that 
of  funeral  grief  By  the  side  of  the  grave  of 
buried  love,  one  feels  as  he  can  feel  nowhere 
else  how  like  a  frail  bubble  upon  the  billow  are 
the  fairest  of  human  hopes.  The  hardest  heart 
becomes  as  water  when  taking  the  last  look  at 
the  cofhn  at  the  bottom  of  the  grave,  and  listen- 
ing to  those  leaden  sounds  which  arise  on  the  ear 
w^ien  the  first  clods  of  the  valley  drop  upon 
mortality's  narrow  house.  It  is  said  of^aflSic- 
tions,  tliat  they  are  to  us  as  the  darkness  of  the 
night,  and  that  we  would  see  no  stars,  and  be 


198  HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

ignorant  of  the  majesty  and  magnificence  of  the 
heavens  over  us,  but  for  such  darkness.  It  is 
from  out  of  the  gloom  of  funeral  sadness,  that 
the  mo^t  thoughtless  can  be  induced  to  look  up. 
Amid  such  emergences,  then,  let  the  pastor  be 
present  to  point  to  the  Star  of  Bethlehem.  We 
have  viewed  with  grief  and  surprise,  a  growing 
indifference  among  some  of  our  ministers  to 
preaching  at  funerals.  This  is  owing,  in  part,  to 
a  w^ant  of  a  due  appreciation  of  the  golden  op- 
portunities w^hich  they  furnish  to  the  pastor,  and, 
in  part,  to  an  abuse  of  the  institution.  He  who 
feels  it  his  duty  to  preach  an  elaborate  discourse 
of  seventy  minutes'  length  on  every  funeral  occa- 
sion, is  sadly  wanting  in  a  sense  of  the  appro- 
priate, and  with  such  a  preacher,  preaching 
at  funerals  will  soon  become  irksome.  Not  so, 
w^e  trust,  w^ith  him  who  can  always  speak  on  such 
occasions,  from  fifteen  to  thirty  minutes,  and 
speak  such  thoughts  as  the  inspiration  of  the 
occasion  naturally  suggests,  and  to  a  reflecting 
mind,  will  suggest  in  almost  infinite  variety. 

In  pastoral  visiting,  w^e  would  not  have  the 
preacher  overlook,  or  treat  with  recklessness,  the 
customs  and  proprieties  of  life.  It  may  not  be 
equally  proper  for  him  to  call  upon  the  family 
at  all  hours  of  the  day,  and  it  may  so  happep 


PASTORAL  TISITING. 


199 


that  he  may  call  at  times  when  he  finds  the 
family  not  in  a  fitting  condition  to  receive  him. 
The  family  may  have  been  thrown  into  some 
confusion  or  hurry.  Some  of  its  members  may 
be  just  on  the  eve  of  leaving,  and  it  may  be 
within  a  few  minutes  of  car  time,  etc.,  etc.  In 
such  cases,  let  him  not  be  obtrusive.  Let  him 
greatly  modify  his  mission,  or  wave  it  altogether . 
Good  sense,  good  taste,  good  manners,  and  deep 
piety,  are  the  leading  characteristics  of  a  good 
pastor. 


300   HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 


CHAPTER  XXIIL 

EXCITEMENT. 

METHODISTS  NOT  ALARMED — -EXCITEMENT  FEARED  BECAUSE  IT 
CONFLICTS  WITH  A  CREED  —  SELDOM  SUCCESSFULLY  GUARDED 
AGAINST — -DEFINITION  OF  METHODISM — EXTRAVAGANCES  DEP- 
RECATED—  EXCITEMENT  ANALYZED  —  FOUR  CARDINAL  SOURCES 
OF  EMOTION  —  RELIGIOUS^EXCITEMENT  ALWAYS  WHOLESOME. 

Much  is  said  about  the  danger  of  undue  excite- 
ment in  revivals  of  religion.  With  some,  it  is 
feared  as  the  sin  of  witchcraft.  As  Methodists, 
we  have  never  been  as  fearful  and  unbelieving 
on  this  subject  as  some  of  our  neighbors.  We 
have  always  believed  that  excitement  is  essential 
to  revivals,  and  have  not,  from  our  experience, 
been  induced  to  be  so  very  apprehensive  as  to 
its  consequences.  The  case  might  be  very  differ- 
ent, were  we  like  many  of  our  neighbors,  em- 
barrassed by  our  creed  in  the  case.  If  we  be- 
lieved that  no  one  was  converted,  only  the 
"elect,"  and  that  when  it  pleased  God,  in  his 
eternal  sovereignty,  to  touch  a  heart  by  his 
Spirit,  that  a  work  was  commenced,  whicii 
would  continue  by  an  absolute  certainty,  and 


EXCITEMENT. 


201 


that  all  others,  who  might  give  similar  evidence 
of  a  disposition  to  fly  from  the  wrath  to  come, 
if  they  apostatized,  never  had  anything  to  apos- 
tatize from — we  say,  if  we  labored  under  this 
embarrassing  creed,  we  should  be  very  wary  of 
excitement,  and  rather  than  to  have  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  taken  by  violence,  we  would,  like 
our  brethren  alluded  to,  desire  to  have  it  taken 
possession  of  in  silence ;  for  it  is  really  not  a 
little  embarrassing  to  those  who  hold  to  the 
creed,  once  in  grace,  always  in  grace,  to  witness 
publicly  a  number  of  conversions,  and  to  witness 
these  persons  for  a  considerable  length  of  time, 
giving  precisely  the  same  evidence  of  their  con- 
version, exhibiting  precisely  the  same  spiritual 
phenomena,  and  yet,  when  a  portion  of  them 
shall  fall  back  into  the  world,  to  tell  the  world 
that  these  persons  never  had  any  religion,  and 
that  all  the  evidence  they  gave  of  the  fact  was 
deceptive,  that  they  were  either  self-deceived, 
or,  as  hypocrites,  they  were  deceiving  others. 
Such  declarations  are  apt  to  cause  reflecting  men 
of  the  world  to  come  to  some  strange  conclu- 
sions. They  are  apt  to  say,  how,  then,  do  we 
know  that  anybody  is  converted  ?  Our  Calvin- 
istic  friends,  however,  who  would  guard  against 
excitement  in  revivals  as  if  it  were  an  epilepsy, 


202    HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  KEYIVALS. 

have  not  been  always  able  to  do  so.  With 
nature  and  their  creed  at  variance,  the  former 
has  often  triumphed,  and  revivals  with  sobs  of 
distress,  groans  of  anguish,  and  even  shouts  of 
joy,  have  richly  favored  their  sanctuaries. 
Sometimes,  the  fearful  and  fastidious  preacher 
has  become  alarmed,  at  other  times  angry,  but 
much  oftener  has  he  melted  under  the  Divine  ^ 
visitation,  and  flowed  with  the  flood. 

So  far  as  it  concerns  the  compactness,  the 
emphasis,  the  out-spokenness,  and  the  social 
warmth  and  adhesiveness  of  Methodism,  it  is  no 
more  than  regenerated  human  nature  acting  it- 
self out  naturally.  We  put  on  it  no  Procrustean 
trammel  to  conform  it  to  a  creed,  nor  does  our 
sense  of  the  befitting — our  views  of  etiquette — 
close  its  lips  to  the  loud  "  roaring"  of  penitential 
sorrow,  or  exultant  shouting,  when  pardon  brings 
relief.  We  view  religion  as  an  exciting  theme, 
as  one  of  the  most  exciting  in  the  universe ;  and 
to  yield  to  men,  without  let  or  censure,  the  priv- 
ilege of  becoming  exceedingly  excited  on  minor 
topics  of  the  day,  and  to  contend  for  the  ab- 
sence of  excitement  on  the  all-momentous  topics 
of  religion,  seems  to  us  an  absurdity.  But  it 
may  be  asked,  whether  extremes  or  extravagan- 
ces have  not  occurred  under  such  a  system. 


EXCITEMENT. 


203 


Well,  in  reply,  we  say,  singular  as  it  may  seem, 
extremes  and  extravagances  have  occurred 
among  our  neighbors,  just  about  as  often,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  powerful  revivals  they  have  had, 
as  among  ourselves.  They  are  probably,  then, 
unavoidable,  even  with  the  exercise  of  the  most 
prudent  foresight.  We  honestly  confess  to  their 
frequent  existence,  and  have  never  seen  a  con- 
vulsed body  under  religious  excitement,  without 
more  or  less  pain  or  apprehension.  It  has  often 
turned  out,  however,  much  better  than  our 
fears,  while  the  good  that  has  resulted  from  re- 
vivals, even  where  these  extravagances  have 
been  prominent,  has  so  far  exceeded  the 
evil,  that  we  have  looked  upon  the  latter,  as 
spots  on  the  sun.  We  would  not,  however,  dis- 
courage the  exercise  of  a  prudent  discipline 
here.  There  has,  probably,  been  among  us  the 
workings  of  a  superstitious  fear.  We  have 
feared  to  curtail  extravagances,  lest  we  quench 
the  Spirit. 

But  is  there  not  something  peculiar  to  great 
excitement  in  revivals,  which,  in  its  ultimate 
results,  endangers  greatly  the  interests  of  relig- 
ion? We  have  never  deemed,  or  seen  any- 
thing peculiar  about  it.  We  think  a  rational 
analysis  of  the  whole  matter  will  allay  all 


204  HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

rational  fears.  We  know  of  but  four  cardinal 
sources  of  emotion  in  the  human  heart,  namely : 
joy,  sorrow,  anger,  appetite.  Well,  now,  if 
there  be  so  much  danger,  as  some  tell  us,  of  in- 
flaming the  passions,  in  seasons  of  revival,  and 
being  carried  away  with  a  tempest  of  animal 
fervor,  to  which  of  these  great  arteries  of  feeling 
is  the  exciting  appeal  made  ?  Certainly  not  to 
appetite,  under  which  may  be  ranged  epi- 
cureanism, lust,  sensuality,  etc.,  etc.  Nor  does 
it  dangerously  arouse,  we  think,  the  second  great 
leopard  of  our  nature.  It  does  not  make  people 
hate  one  another.  It  does  not  instigate  to  wrath 
or  prompt  men  to  assault  each  other's  persons. 
Anger  and  appetite,  then,  with  all  their  numerous 
brood,  are  passions  not  excited  in  religious  ex- 
citement. True,  it  does  beget  sorrow,  profound 
sorrow,  a  "  godly  sorrow,  that  worketh  repent- 
ance not  to  be  repented  of."  This  sorrow  is  a 
most  healthy  one.  It  arises  from  the  discoveries 
which  the  sinner  has  made  of  himself.  He  ]s 
sorry  for  his  sins,  his  depravity,  and  for  having 
grieved  so  great  grace.  His  sorrow  may  be  very 
profound,  and  manifest  itself  in  very  liigli 
emotion. 

But  can  there  be  anything  dangerous  m 
such  a  class  of  emotions?    The  rather,  do  they 


EXCITEMENT. 


205 


not  embody  everything  that  is  hopeful  ?  A  sor- 
row, too,  that  need  not,  under  proper  instruc- 
tion, be  of  long  continuance.  It  is  a  false  view 
of  the  philosophy  of  conversion,  to  suppose  that 
it  must  necessarily  be  preceded  by  a  long  season 
of  legal  agony.  Christ  has  made  an  atonement 
for  our  sins,  and  he  invites  us  to  come  im- 
mediately to  him,  and  demands  of  us  no  sor- 
row by  way  of  penance.  It  is  to  see  our  sins, 
our  guilt,  our  danger,  and  to  feel  our  need  of 
him,  believe,  and  he  is  our  Saviour.  The  smitten 
sinner  merges  from  the  profoundest  grief,  into 
the  sweetest  joy  known  to  human  nature,  ''peace 
with  God,  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  and 
possessing  the  hope  of  eternal  glory.  Now,  in 
all  this,  is  it  at  all  surprising  if  tears,  and  sobs, 
and  shouts,  and  sighs,  groans,  and  exultations, 
should  become  the  natural  language  of  the  oc- 
casion ?  But  is  there  anything  in  all  this  class 
of  emotions  calculated  to  fill  one  with  appre- 
hension in  view  of  the  excitement  which  char- 
acterizes revivals  ?    We  think  not. 

But  there  is  another  large  stream  of  emotions 
that  flow  here,  whose  fountain  we  have  not 
traced.  There  can  be  no  joy  where  there  is  not 
love,  and  with  love  to  God,  arises  an  increased 
love  for  our  fellows,  and  especially  for  kinsmen 


206  HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

according  to  the  flesh.  The  converted  wife  im- 
mediately feels  a  solicitude  for  her  husband,  too 
deep,  it  may  be,  for  concealment.  The  converted 
child  becomes  at  once  a  missionary  to  the  parent. 
The  converted  sister  is  found  at  once  praying 
and  weeping  for  her  wayward  brother,  and  thus 
it  is  that  all  the  loves  of  kindred  are  made  to 
receive  a  powerful  impulse.  But  is  there  any- 
thing to  be  apprehended  from  such  an  excite- 
ment as  this,  an  excitement  in  which  one  dear 
relation  is  induced  ardently  to  seek  the  best, 
highest,  and  holiest  interest  of  another?  Ex- 
citement in  revivals !  Yes,  there  is  always  ex 
citement  present,  the  best,  most  wholesome  of 
all  excitement.  If  we  could  have  a  revival  on 
earth  without  excitement,  we  could  do  more  than 
the  angels  in  heaven,  for  they  rejoice  over  every 
sinner  that  repenteth.  And  as  if  their  views  of 
the  matter  harmonized  precisely  with  ours  and 
our  experience,  their  solicitudes  for  the  time 
being  would  forget  a  whole  Church,  and  con- 
centrate upon  one  repenting,  struggling  sinner. 

say  unto  you,  that  joy  shall  be  in  heaven 
over  one  sinner  that  repenteth,  more  than  over 
ninety  and  nine  just  persons  that  need  no  repent- 
ance." O  blessed  revival  excitement!  that  calls 
into  vigorous  activity  none  but  the  noblest  emo- 


EXCITEMENT. 


20T 


tions  of  our  nature,  and  while  it  thrills  the  Church 
on  earth  with  gladness  and  rapture,  it  has  such 
an  affinity  for  the  skies,  such  a  congenialitj''  for 
the  atmosphere  of  the  angels'  home,  that  it  adds 
to  their  joys  also. 


208  HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  KEVIVALS. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

HAVE   FAITH  IN  REVIVALS. 

REVIVALS  SCRIPTURAL  —  THEIR  SPIRIT  FLOWS  IN  THE  PRAYERS  OF 
THE  BIBLE,  IN  THE  PROPHECIES  OP  THE  BIBLE,  IN  THE  PROMISES 
OF  THE  BIBLE,  AND  IN  BIBLE  HISTORY — SECULAR  HISTORY  OF 
REVIVALS  —  REVIVALS  AND  METHODISM  —  A  SOLECISM. 

The  word  revival  implies  its  beginning-place. 
It  intimates  the  existence  of  some  religion,  and 
the  means  of  its  promotion.  It  intimates  the  ex- 
istence of  spiritual  things,  though  they  may  be 
ready  to  die.  It  intimates  that  the  revival  must 
commence  in  the  Church,  and  may  exist  even 
without  resulting  in  the  conversion  of  souls. 
The  word  is  Scriptural.  And  yet  there  are  those 
who  look  upon  revivals  as  not  a  necessity,  view 
them  as  a  kind  of  abnormal  condition.  Such 
brethren  do  exceedingly  err,  and  they  w^ill  be 
seldom  favored  with  revivals  for  their  want  of 
faith  in  them.  We  would,  if  it  were  possible  in 
this  chapter,  say  something  that  would  increase 
the  confidence  of  all  in  revivals,  and  that  would 
induce  Christians  continually  to  work  for  them, 
to  work  out  not  merely  their  own  salvation,  but, 

I  * 


HAVE  FAITH  IN  REVIVALS. 


209 


as  it  were,  the  salvation  of  the  Church,  and 
others.  If  we  glance  at  the  history  of  revivals, 
we  will  find  them  of  Bible  origin,  and  that  they 
breathe  in  the  prayers  of  the  Church ;  that  they 
murmur  among  the  strings  of  the  prophets'  lyres, 
and  make  up  a  large  portion  of  the  burden  of 
Bible  promises.  What  means  such  praying  as 
this?  "Turn  us,  O  God  of  our  salvation,  and  cause 
thine  anger  toward  us  to  cease.  Wilt  thou  not 
revive  us  again,  that  thy  people  may  rejoice  in 
thee  ?  Show  us  thy  mercy,  O  Lord,  and  grant 
us  thy  salvation."  Again :  ''Return,  we  beseech 
thee,  O  God  of  hosts ;  look  down  from  heaven, 
and  behold  and  visit  this  vine  and  the  vineyard 
which  thy  right  hand  hath  planted,  and  the 
branch  that  thou  madest  strong  for  thyself." 
Again,  hear  the  prophet  Habakkuk :  "  O  Lord, 
revive  thy  work.  In  the  midst  of  the  years 
make  known ;  in  wrath  remember  mercy." 

Now,  let  us  consult  the  prophets  of  the  Bible 
concerning  revivals.  If  we  talk  with  these  holy 
men,  they  will  tell  us  stories  of  revival  transform- 
ation, and  rise  before  us  in  revival  transport. 
Here  is  a  description  from  Joel,  of  Pentecost, 
eight  hundred  years  before  it  occurred :  ''And  it 
shall  come  to  pass  afterward,  that  I  will  pour  out 

my  Spirit  upon  all  flesh ;  and  your  sons  and 
14 


210  HELPS  TO  THE  PKOMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

your  daughters  shall  prophesy,  your  old  men 
shall  dream  dreams,  your  young  men  shall  see 
visions:  and  also  upon  the  servants  and  upon 
the  handmaids  in  those  days  will  I  pour  out  my 
Spirit." 

Witli  all  this  the  promises  of  the  Bible  har- 
monize. The  wilderness  and  the  solitary  place 
shall  be  glad  for  them  :  and  the  desert  shall  re- 
joice, and  blossom  as  the  rose.  It  shall  blossom 
abundantly,  and  rejoice,  even  with  joy  and  sing- 
ing :  the  glory  of  Lebanon  shall  be  given  imto 
it,  the  excellency  of  Carmel  and  Sharon,  they 
shall  see  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  and  the  excel- 
lency of  our  God.  Strengthen  ye  the  weak 
hands,  and  confirm  the  feeble  knees.  Say  to 
them  that  are  of  a  fearful  heart.  Be  strong,  fear 
not:  behold,  your  God  will  come  with  ven- 
geance, even  God  with  a  recompense ;  he  will 
come  and  save  you.  Then  the  eyes  of  the  blind 
shall  be  opened,  and  the  ears  of  the  deaf  shall 
be  unstopped.  Then  shall  the  lame  man  leap 
as  a  hart,  and  the  tongue  of  the  dumb  sing;  for 
in  the  wilderness  shall  waters  break  out,  and 
streams  in  the  desert.  And  the  parched  ground 
shall  become  a  pool,  and  the  thirsty  land  springs 
of  water;  in  the  habitation  of  dragons,  where 
each  lay,  shall  be  grass  with  reeds  and  rushes. 


HAVE  FAITH  IN  REVIVALS.  211 


And  a  highway  shall  be  there,  and  a  way,  and 
it  shall  be  called,  The  way  of  holiness ;  the  un- 
clean shall  not  pass  over  it ;  but  it  shall  be  for 
those :  the  wayfaring  man,  though  a  fool,  shall 
not  err  therein.  No  lion  shall  be  there,  nor  any 
ravenous  beast  shall  go  up  thereon ;  it  shall  not 
be  found  there;  but  the  redeemed  shall  walk 
there.  And  the  ransomed  of  the  Lord  shall  re- 
turn, and  come  to  Zion  with  songs  and  everlast- 
ing joy  upon  their  heads :  they  shall  obtain  joy 
and  gladness,  and  sorrow  and  sighing  shall  flee 
away." 

The  above  glowing  description  of  revival  tri- 
umphs has,  in  all  probability,  been  as  yet  but 
imperfectly  realized.  And  from  its  teachings 
we  may  be  justified  in  the  inference  that  in- 
finitely greater  revivals  are  yet  to  occur  in  the 
Church  before  the  millennium,  than  ever  have 
yet  occurred.  We  are  encouraged,  then,  at  the 
beginning  of  every  revival,  to  expect  great 
things.    Brethren,  let  us  have  faith  in  revivals. 

If  we  consult  the  Bible  historically^  we  will 
find  many  striking  instances  of  revival  manifes- 
tation and  reformation.  Reference  might  be  had 
to  the  reigns  of  David  and  Solomon,  Asa  and 
Jehoshaphat,  Hezekiah  and  Josiah.  Look,  also, 
at  that  great  revival  under  Ezra,  and  then,  again, 


212   HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REVIVALS. 

under  John  the  Baptist.  Then,  again,  at  the  re- 
vival at  Pentecost,  in  which  no  less  than  three 
thousand  the  first  day,  and  two  the  second,  w^ere 
converted  to  God.  The  holy  fire  then  caught 
in  Samaria,  and  upon  the  dispersion  of  the  disci- 
ples, after  the  martyrdom  of  Stephen,  revivals 
broke  out  in  the  remoter  parts  of  Judea,  extend- 
ing as  far  as  the  territories  of  Greece.  Indeed, 
the  dawn  of  the  Church's  progress,  as  revealed  in 
the  Bible,  seems  to  have  been  by  means  of  re- 
vivals. Has  it  not  been  so  ever  since  ?  No  fact 
is  more  easy  of  demonstration.  The  Church  has 
always  progressed,  as  it  were,  by  revival  steps. 
Especially  true  is  this  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church.  Take  away  that  part  of  her  history 
which  appertains  to  revivals,  and  you  have  about 
annihilated  her  history.  Methodism  moves  for- 
ward by  revivals  with  as  stern  a  necessitj^,  if  not 
in  as  strict  order,  as  doth  the  husbandman  ac- 
quire his  wealth  by  preparing  for  and  then  gath- 
ering his  harvest  in  its  season.  Methodism  with- 
out revivals  !  Methodist  preachers  who  do  not 
believe  in  revivals !    Both  are  solecisms. 

Were  we  to  glance  at  the  history  of  revivals 
since  the  great  one  under  Luther,  we  would  find 
that  the  pure  faith  of  the  Gospel  caught  in 
France,  Denmark,  Holland,  Switzerland,  the  Low 


HAVE  FAITH  IN  KEYIYALS. 


213 


Countries,  the  mountains  of  Scotland,  and  north 
of  Ireland,  and  in  Britain  by  the  revival  law. 
A  nd  such  has  continued  to  be  the  fact  in  these 
countries  ever  since.  At  an  early  day,  in  this 
country,  under  the  ministrations  of  Whitefield, 
Coke,  and  Asbury,  and  their  coadjutors ;  also, 
Brainerd,  the  Edwardses,  Davies,  and  the  Ten- 
nents,  the  Church  was  saved  from  all  the  icy 
horrors  of  formalism  by  means  of  revivals.  And 
but  for  the  revivals  that  have  characterized  the 
first  half  of  the  present  century,  w^here  had  been 
the  evangelism  of  America  ?  Could  Methodism 
spare  the  moral  wealth,  the  spiritual  spoils, 
which  she  has  gathered  in  revivals  the  last  half 
century?  Take  them  from  her,  and  she  would 
have  nothing  left.  And  when  Methodism  seeks 
not,  by  the  most  direct  means,  the  promotion  of 
revivals,  when  her  attention  shall  be  so  directed 
to  the  externals  of  the  Church,  the  mere  scaf- 
folding, as  to  forget  these  weightier  matters  of 
the  law,  then  is  Ichabod  written  upon  her  walls. 
Her  glory  is  departed  and  given  to  another. 
Yes,  we  say,  given  to  another.  For  Methodism 
in  some  form,  and  under  some  name,  will  con- 
tinue to  exist,  if  it  be  true  that  the  millennium 
is  to  come. 


214  HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  EEVIVALS. 


CHAPTEE  XXV. 

HOLINESS. 

DISTINCTIONS    AND    DEFINITIONS  —  THE    THING    AND    NOT  THE 

MODE  TO  BE  INVESTIGATED  AGREEMENT  AS  IT  RESPECTS  THE 

THING  IN    ESSENCE  DEFINITION    GIVEN  —  TRUE  STANDARD 

AROUND  WHICH  WE  CAN  HARMONIZE  QUESTIONS  WHICH  LIE 

BEYOND  PROFITABLE  INVESTIGATION  THE  THEORISTS  SPE- 
CIAL   MEETINGS    TO    SEEK    FOR    CHRISTIAN    HOLINESS  THE 

GRAND  PECULIARITY — ADVANCING  FROM  THE  "  HOPE  SO TO 
THE  "  KNOW  SO  ^'  HOLINESS  UNDER  THE  DIFFERENT  DISPENSA- 
TIONS  HOLINESS  THE  BIBLE's  LAST  DEMAND  UPON  THE  WORLD. 

The  words  holiness,  sanctification,  perfection, 
etc.,  are  used  in  Scripture  in  various  shades  of 
meaning.  With  Methodists  we  believe  they 
mean  a  death  to  sin ;  the  death  of  indwelling 
sin ;  a  resurrection  to  righteousness,  accompanied 
with  a  consciousness  of  loving  God  with  all  the 
heart.  Certain  distinctions,  however,  have  been 
set  up,  occasioning  among  us  much  dispute,  such 
as  the  difference  between  regeneration  and  sanc- 
tification,  where  and  when  the  latter  begins,  and 
what  is  implied  in  its  completion.  These  and 
other  distinctions  have  led  to  as  many  defini- 
tions as  definers,  and  it  is  seldom  that  two  writ- 


HOLINESS. 


215 


ers  agree  on  the  subject  of  Christian  holiness, 
where  the  mode  of  the  thing's  progress,  rather 
than  the  thing  itself,  has  been  tlie  subject  of  dis- 
cussion. Disputers  have  waxed  warm,  and  even 
parties  and  sectional  organizations  have  been 
temporarily  created.  Perhaps  all  will  agree  with 
us,  that  very  little  has  been  done  by  these  dis- 
cussions to  harmonize  the  views  of  the  Church, 
while,  in  some  instances,  the  Christian's  spiritu- 
ality has  been  endangered.  May  it  not  be  pos- 
sible that  we  exceedingly  err  in  attempting  to 
map  out  the  process  by  w^hich  the  justified  sin- 
ner is  advanced  from  incipient  grace  to  perfect 
holiness  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord?  Not  more  than 
a  millionth  part  of  what  is  to  be  known  of  the 
mysterious  laws  of  electricity  is  yet,  perhaps, 
known.  Animal  and  vegetable  chemistry,  the 
science  of  crystallization,  are  all  yet  unexplored 
Africas  in  human  thonglit.  "Why  should  we  be 
so  ready,  then,  to  trace  the  way  of  the  Eternal 
Spirit  in  its  contact  with  our  own  souls,  about 
which  we  have  no  knowledge  whatever,  beyond 
a  consciousness  of  being?  Like  little  headlands 
far  off  in  the  ocean,  that  lift  their  rocky  or  sandy 
summits  just  above  the  surface,  we  know  they 
are  there,  but  what  mysterious  line  of  submarine 
Alps  they  may  indicate,  we  may  never  know 


216  HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  REYIYALS. 

until  "  there  shall  be  no  more  sea."  Like  these 
marine  phenomena,  we  say,  are  some  passages 
of  holy  writ.  God  breathed  into  the  nostrils  of 
Adam,  and  he  became  a  living  soul.  Now  here 
is  a  fact  stated,  but,  like  the  little  island  summit 
of  the  ocean,  it  is  surrounded  by  mystery  which 
none  may  explain.  The  process  of  Omnipotence 
in  the  production  of  animal  life,  is  as  easily  a 
thing  of  analysis,  as  the  process  of  the  Spirit  in 
creating  in  man  the  newness  of  the  spiritual 
life.  Does  not  the  Saviour  place  an  embargo 
upon  inquiries  in  this  direction?  ''The  wind 
bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the 
sound  thereof,  but  canst  not  tell  whence  itcometh, 
and  whither  it  goeth:  so  is  every  one  that  is 
born  of  the  Spirit."  "  Who  by  searching  can 
find  out  God  ?"  "  These  things  are  too  high  for 
me,  I  cannot  attain  unto  them."  Is  it  not  so 
dogmatic,  so  incapable  of  a  demonstration  to 
which  all  will  agree,  to  attempt  to  show  just 
how  much  or  how  little  the  Holy  Spirit  has 
done  for  our  depravity,  at  this  or  that  successive 
step  in  our  spiritual  history,  that  the  work  must 
ever  be  an  unprofitable  one  ?  Rather  let  us  speak 
of  the  thing,  and  abandon  disputation  on  the  mode. 
Who  ever  knew  a  sharp  controversialist  on  the 
subject  of  the  mode  of  Christian  holiness,  that  did 


HOLINESS. 


217 


not  give  evidence,  before  he  got  through,  that  he 
wrote  far  less  from  experience  than  from  theory  ? 

But  is  there  no  way  to  define  this  blessed 
grace,  so  that  Christians  may  have  an  entity  to 
think  of,  and  not  be  bewildered  by  those  floating, 
contradictory  definitions  that  have  but  too  often 
entered  into  the  writings  and  teachings  of  indi- 
viduals of  the  Church  ?  There  is,  thank  God. 
As  Methodists,  we  all  agree  as  to  what  the 
grace  is  in  essence.  "  It  is  to  love  God  with  all 
thy  heart,  mind,  and  strength,  and  thy  neighlor 
as  thyself y  Here  is  Christian  holiness,  sancti- 
fication,  perfection.  Show  us  a  man  whose 
heart  habitually  glows  with  emotions  so  heav- 
enly, and  we  care  not  to  ask  him  how,  or  when, 
or  where  he  received  the  blessing.  In  minute- 
ness of  detail  he  may  not  know  himself.  In  our 
view,  we  have  no  idea  that  Christians  generally 
do,  and  yet  may  they  be  as  conscious  of  this 
blessing,  as  of  any  other  feeling  apprehensible 
by  consciousness.  Here,  then,  is  a  definition  of 
the  Saviour.  Let  us  harmonize  around  it.  Let 
us  view  it  as  an  ultimate  truth,  as  the  ultimatum 
of  our  knowledge  in  the  matter.  Theories  and 
speculations  aside,  let  us  seek  to  know  that 
God  is  supremely  loved,  and  then  are  we 
supremely  blessed. 


218    HELPS  TO  THE  PrwOMOTION  OF  EEVIVALS. 

It  we  lose  sight  of  the  polar  star  above  named, 
we  will  find  ourselves  perpetually  involved  in 
questions  that  only  bewilder,  and  which  multiply 
words  without  knowledge.  May  not  questions 
underlie  this  subject  equally  profound  with 
many  which  might  be  mentioned,  the  solution 
of  which,  good  men  are  willing  to  wait  the  dawn 
of  eternity's  light?  The  mystery  of  the  origin 
of  evil,  for  example.  How  the  immense  deluge 
of  moral  and  physical  suffering  that  surges  so 
indiscriminately  in  the  world,  can  be  harmo- 
nzied  with  an  all-presiding  benevolence  ;  how 
Providence  can  support  a  kingdom  of  order  in 
the  world,  and  bring  about  every  event  accord- 
ing to  the  foreknowledge  and  counsels  of  his 
will,  and  yet  man  be  absolutely  free  ;  how  pre- 
science can  be  reconciled  with  human  freedom, 
are  all  questions  which  seem  to  lie  beyond  the 
limits  of  successful  investigation.  He  who  is 
perpetually  puzzling  himself  about  them,  to  the 
neglect  of  the  weightier  matters  of  the  law,  re- 
sembles the  old  Jews,  who  wandered  in  the  des- 
erts of  Arabia  with  a  sunny  Canaan,  with  golden 
fruit  inviting  their  possession,  just  at  hand.  Do 
not  treat  the  subject  of  holiness  metapbysicall3\ 
Do  not  theorize  until  you  become  transcendent- 
al.   Do  not  establish  a  train  of  notions  of  your 


HOLINESS. 


219 


own,  and  defend  them  until  the  spirit  of  bigotry, 
if  not  Phariseeism,  takes  possession  of  your  soul, 
and  you  subject  yourself  to  the  oft-heard  cen- 
sure, that  those  who  talk  most  about  Christian 
holiness,  seem  to  be  most  wanting  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  spirit  of  it.  There  are  limits  to 
human  knowledge,  and  the  circle  with  the  most 
knowing  is  very  limited. 

Revival  preaching  should  insist  on  Christian 
holiness.  It  should  set  up  the  standard  we  have 
named.  It  should  insist  upon  the  definition  of 
Jesus.  It  should  neither  ask  nor  want  any  better. 
Its  vocabulary  should  be  Scriptural.  Away  here 
with  human  inventions  ;  such  words  and  phrases 
as  "entire  consecration,"  seeking  the  ''second 
blessing,"  etc.,  etc.  We  have  been  often  asked 
our  views  in  reference  to  the  propriety  of  hold- 
ing meetings  specially  for  Christian  holiness. 
They  may  not  have  been  without  their  use.  In 
our  view,  however,  they  are  generally  of  doubt- 
ful propriety.  We  should  seek  to  promote  Chris- 
tian holiness  at  every  meeting.  Besides,  there  is 
a  kind  of  solecism  of  language  here.  A  meeting 
to  seek  for  Christian  holiness  cannot,  when 
justly  analyzed,  be  any  other  than  a  meeting  in 
which  Christians  are  seeking  more  religion,  for 
Christian  holiness  is  the  sum  of  all  religion, 


220    HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  PvEVIYALS. 

generic  of  the  whole  thing.  But  as  this  defi- 
nition would  give  such  a  meeting  no  marked 
character,  it  will  generally  be  found  that  those 
circles  of  brethren  who  hold  such  meetings, 
have  some  particular  theory  to  support.  They 
are  in  possession  of  some  new  view  upon  this 
subject,  in  contradistinction  to  their  brethren. 
They  reduce  the  subject  of  Christian  holiness, 
which  is  generic  to  something  which  is  specific. 
They  proceed  in  the  wrong  direction.  In  the 
place  of  advancing  from  species  to  genera,  they 
proceed  from  genera  to  species.  The  results  are 
seldom  satisfactory.  Besides,  why  not  hold 
special  meetings  for  an  increase  of  faith,  hu- 
mility, etc.  ? 

We  off*er  the  above  remarks  on  this  delicate 
subject,  with  the  profoundest  deference  to  the 
judgments  and  more  extended  experiences  of  our 
brethren.  "While  we  are  opposed  to  singleizing 
or  technicalizing  this  blessed  doctrine  among  us, 
after  some  of  the  modes  above  liinted  at,  we 
nevertheless  believe  in  giving  it  marked  promi- 
nence in  all  our  worship  and  religious  teachings. 
If  the  doctrine  be  not  peculiar  to  Methodists,  we 
have  always  held  it  peculiarly.  In  theory,  our 
neighbors  may  believe  in  the  possibility  of  lov- 
ing God  with  all  the  heart,  but,  in  bondage  to 


HOLINESS. 


221 


their  creeds,  they  will  not  assume  to  confess  it. 
With  them  conversions  are  "hopeful."  They 
"  hope  that  they  have  obtained  a  hope."  They 
hope  that  God  is  supreme  in  their  affections,  but 
will  not  trust  to  the  evidence  of  consciousness 
and  good  works,  to  advance  them  to  any  further 
belief,  to  the  perfect  freedom  of  the  sons  of  God. 
Methodists  have  advanced  here  from  the  hope 
so  to  the  hnow  so.  Here  is  our  grand  peculiar- 
ity, and  it  should  be  ever  held  up  before  our 
people.  Holiness,  this  has  always  been  our 
watcliword  ;  to  spread  it  over  all  lands,  our  ob- 
ject. In  this,  we  do  no  more  than  act  Scriptur- 
ally.  If  we  look  into  the  old  dispensation,  we 
will  find  holiness,  or  moral  purity,  among  the 
first  inculcations  of  God.  A  hundred  physical 
objects  that  met  the  Jewish  eye  almost  daily, 
had  a  tongue  to  speak  to  him  of  holiness.  The 
furniture  of  the  tabernacle,  and  the  vessels  of  the 
sanctuary,  were  eloquent  with  the  theme.  Proph- 
ecy speaks  of  its  diffusion,  and  points  to  that 
period  in  its  triumphs  when  "holiness  to  the 
Lord"  would  be  stamped  upon  the  bells  of  the 
herd.  The  Son  of  man  came  down  from  heaven, 
and  among  the  first  words  of  his  mission  were, 
"Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall 
see  God."   The  great  apostle  to  the  Gentiles 


222    HELPS  TO  THE  PROMOTION  OF  KEVIVAL8. 

takes  up  the  blessed  burden,  and  sends  it  rever- 
berating along  the  centuries.  "  The  very  God 
of  peace  sanctify  you  wholly ;  and  I  pray  God 
your  whole  spirit,  and  soul,  and  body,  be  pre- 
served blameless  unto  the  coming  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ."  And  at  the  closing  up  of  revela- 
tion, the  sealing  up  of  the  days  of  vision,  a  door 
is  opened  in  heaven.  The  jasper- walled  and 
golden-streeted  Jerusalem  is  revealed,  the  me- 
tropolis of  the  saints ;  and  the  closing  w^ords  of 
the  Bible  are  uttered  down  to  the  world  from  its 
entrance  gates:  "And  there  shall  in  no  wise 
enter  into  it  anything  that  defileth."  Holiness! 
it  is  the  ark  of  the  Lord  among  our  doctrinal 
ideas.  It  is  not  the  shibboleth  of  a  sect,  the 
dogma  of  a  denomination,  but  it  is  "  Christ  in  us 
the  hope  of  glory."  It  is  the  very  essence  of  our 
spiritual  life,  the  vital  artery  of  our  whole  sys- 
tem. It  is  the  central  sun  around  which  the 
satellites  all  revolve  in  harmony,  rejoicing  in  its 
broad,  warm,  genial,  life-imparting  smile.  O, 
for  holiness  individually  in  the  membership! 
O,  for  a  holy  ministry  !  Together,  they  make 
an  omnipotent  Church.  "  Yerily  I  say  unto 
you,  if  ye  have  faith  as  a  grain  of  mustard  seed, 
ye  shall  say  unto  this  mountain,  Kemove  hence 
to  yonder  place ;  and  it  shall  remove  ;  and  noth- 


HOLINESS. 


223 


ing  shall  be  impossible  unto  you."  We  have 
often  known  revivals  of  religion  to  commence 
under  the  preaching  of  holiness,  and  though 
there  are  a  diversity  of  operations,  and  the  offi- 
ciating minister  must  be  the  judge  of  what  is 
most  fitting  in  the  case,  yet  we  have  always 
considered  it  a  safe  place  to  begins 


THE  END. 


